Aransas National Wildlife Refuge. March 2023 (Part 1 Alligators)

Barb and Renita were a little ahead of us and we were all visiting when Renita called out snake. Dan and I hurried up hoping to get a photograph before it disappeared into the thick brush. Just as fast the snake moved into the dense foliage and we decided we didn’t want to go in any further. It was our first trip to the refuge since the new headquarters had been built. Dan and Barb joined us on a birding adventure and a fun day hiking and driving the trails. Stopping at the Heron Flat trails we did not see the pair of whoopers that had claimed the salt flats as their territory.

Before we reached the blind another birder told us of the large alligator that had walked across the trial and was floating in the southern pond. As we headed down the trail looking for birds, a second large alligator was sunning itself on the bank.

A third lay in the water partially submerged, and worked its way toward us measuring us for prey?

It watched us with its yellow reptilian eys. The alligator may have been fed by other visitors as they usually stay away from people. A fed alligator is like a fed bear, slated for euthanasia. It finally stopped and didn’t cross our trail although we could see tail marks and claw marks where one had crossed to the next brackish pond.

A little further and yet a fifth large gator slowly swam by and at the next fresh water pond a sixth waited.

It’s not unusual to see so many large gators and we saw a seventh, which we photographed at the platform on Jones Lake. We eventually passed all the ponds and gators took photos of the birds but that’s for part two of this story.

Later, Renita told us the snake stretched completely across the trail which meant it was at least six feet long. It had a dark color, but she never could identify it. Here in south Texas there are copper heads, coral snakes water moccasins and Western Diamondbacks which can grow up to eight feet in length, (and many non poisonous ones). Dan and I wisely did not chase the snake into the thick underbrush. Gators are almost as fun as bears, and it was a good start for the day! Clear skies

The Gulf Coast Gem and Mineral Show, The 60th Anniversary

Our first major show of each year is the Gulf Coast Gem and Mineral Societies annual event. It held at the Fairgrounds in Robstown, Texas, lasts two days and is a juried show. All the venders must be selling items related to rocks fossils and minerals. The number of venders is usually under thirty. The venders specialize in, rare minerals, carved and rough rocks, jewelry, and lapidary supplies. Although its one of the smaller shows we love showing our work. The reason for this is that the club mentored us and taught us how to select, saw, grind, and polish each one noting its special properties. We have been blessed in many ways havin learned under several Masters. Jerald Simpson taught us how to make cabochons from a rock slab, (a sawed slice of a rock). Dick Cline (a retired elctrician who worked on numerous nuclear power plants world wide and passed away at age 93), taught us how to saw and identify quality specimens. He insisted that we only work with high quality rock. He often told us life is too short to waste your time on “junk”. In turn we have taught our wire wrapping techniques to many in the club, some of which are in the following pictures. Thank you to all the members, both past and present.

Russell is the current president, and a petroleum geologist, an extremely smart man, (but aren’t all geologists), Henri our current treasurer, Sue, and Jose.

All have taken our class.

Linda Simpson is holding down the information booth and identifing specimens brought in by our guests, She is a retired Earth Science teacher, (another group of smart people). Rita is the current secretary, and has an avid interest in collecting Pleistocene fossils, modern bones, antlers, and petrified wood. She combines them into a multimedia pieces on display, Here she is running the silent Auction tables where anyone can bid on club and member pieces.

The club currently has lost our lapidary shop and we hope that they will be able to find a space as we have all the equipment in storage, (we rented a space from the City of Corpus Christi, Tx, and have been forced to leave as the new Harbor bridge and surrounding area plans have claimed the building we occupied as our shop. Thank you all, we hold you in our hearts! Clear skies

Osprey stare down, Whoopers at Lamar, and Rosette Spoonbills

It been a while since our last entry, because we have been finishing jewelry and necklaces for our space at the Gulf Coast Gem and Mineral Show. It’s the Gulf Coast Gem and Mineral's 60th Show, and as usual will be held at the Fairgrounds in Robstown, Texas. We decided we needed a break and so we grabbed our cameras for a quick trip to Lamar. There are not many places in the world where such beautiful and endangered species are so easy to spot. After crossing the Copano Bay Bridge we headed down along St Charles Bay and found three whooping cranes watching a feeder.

As you can see one is telling the others something but as we don’t speak bird language we can only guess… Leaving the three cranes we next headed to Eighth Street where we spotted a large flock of Rosette Spoonbills with immature sand hill cranes feeding among them.

The spoonbills are in their breeding colors, which are shades of bright pink, a palette of unique colors in nature. You can also see that a couple of the birds have claimed a spot for their nests.

Driving further we had a stare down with an osprey, watching us as we took its picture.

Ospreys always seem to have a glare on their face as they decide if you prey that is just too big to eat.

As we watched another set of whoopers. we saw one doing its stretch. It’s a common whooper stretch that they often engage in after taking an afternoon siesta. There were a lot of people around, (President’s Day), and so we didn’t see much else. An Eastern peewee hunted near Big Tree but didn’t pose long enough for a good picture.

Reaching the shoreline, we saw a woman flyfishing but she didn’t catch any fish while we watched. Four kayakers were also fishing but again we didn’t see any sign of action. Still it was a productive birding trip and a good break from our jewelry benches, (a tv table in front of the couch and the dining table. Today we are going to Robstown to set up. Clear skies

The Bollards of Port Aransas

The Bollards of Port Aransas Bollard- a short thick post to which a ship is moored, also a post which diverts traffic…… Occasionally we come across an unique art form. One was the large murals made from large insects. We had heard that the bollards of Port Aransas were covered with artistic knitting and needlepoint and so we had to see them, ( They will soon be removed before hoards of college students arrive for spring break). Some were stolen but they were returned after the loud community uproar. The bollard covers were made by an army of individuals, and many by winter Texans. Over three hundred are on display. The following are a few of our many favorites. Well done!

Clear skies

Valentines Day at Blue Lagoons Rv Park, 2023

Every day has a blessing. It may be hard to find but it is always there. Valentines Day was a huge blessing as our park holds a fabulous dinner feast. The whole thing was organized by our friends Zita and Alan, the entertainment directors. For the past eight years we have been blessed to have them try to include everyone in all the celebrations.

Of course, volunteers play a huge part in its success. A large group does the setup and tear down. Our part this year was to be the photographers, (we are more used to taking pictures of birds and bears, than people). Alan does most of the cooking,(with Zitas help). He’s a Kansas City Grill Master and Chef and he smoked prime rib and Cornish hens. Added to that was a kettle of au jus sauce, a huge baked potato, fresh baked rolls, salad, and a red velvet brownie, (with assorted chocolates).

Sixty couples made advanced reservations, and the club house was full!

A large contingent are from Buncombe Creek, at Lake Texoma, and they decided to have a group photo!

We were led in a short prayer by Chris and then the meal began!

Later an auction was held to raise money for our clubhouse kitty. It was also a success, (and for the first time I was outbid, so no prime rib dinner when we go to Grand Isle, perhaps frog legs?). The celebration was an outstanding success! Our blessing was to be together and celebrate with each other and with friends we have met from around the United States and Canada! Clear skies

Looking for the comet, getting ready for The Gulf Coat show, and fishing

Its very hard to take a picture of the nighttime sly without Elon Musk’s satellites photo bombing the shot. Still, I thought I would try to take another one of the “Green Comet and so Renita and I drove over to our favorite dark site. It was clear night and I thought I had everything ready but…. One of the tripod legs had separated from the tripod and I couldn’t find it, grr. I still, foolishly I might add, attempted to use the car for a twenty second expose. Of course, the stars and planets were a series of squiggly lines. I next placed the camera on top of the car after pointing it in the general direction of Taurus the bull, then snapping the image and letting the camera and car work together. It kind of worked and as you can see I got an ok image of Taurus.

Now to locate the comet we had to look between the Planet Mars and Aldebaran, which is the bright star representing the eye of the bull, (the face of the bull makes the letter v with the horns toward the northeast). Did I get the comet, maybe but its so faint that I must try another trip with the repaired tripod?

As tomorrow is Valentine’s Day our park is hosting a prime rib dinner and Renita and I are taking pictures of everyone who attends. The party won’t last that long so we plan on driving to our deserted spot, setting up the camera and taking pictures, (the comet is located at seven oclock from Mars and is very faint. This is a raw fromat image). Sounds romantic! For the past week we both have been making jewelry for our upcoming March 4th and Fifth show. It’s the Sixtieth Gem and Mineral show of the Gulf Coast Gem and Mineral Society. That’s the group we have belonged to for the past twelve years.

It has been cold and very windy and so fishing has suffered. Roy and I have gone out in his pram, and we have caught fish. Flounder, redfish, black drum, and sheepshead. We also had a pod of three dolphin visit us. The fish we caught were undersized and but in two days we caught and kept three sheepshead and one twenty two inch black drum. The sheepshead were nice size, with largest being nineteen inches long and after filleting them we have enough for another meal.

Two fronts are passing through this week and small craft warnings have been posted for today so today I decided to take a break and spend the day smoking a brisket!

I had hoped to have the brisket for dinner but I accidently covered the temperature sensor and the grill got too hot. Luckily, I caught it before the grill was destroyed and after cooling and cleaning out the mess, the smell of smoked brisket is finally wafting into the fifth wheel. It takes about nine to ten hours to reach the perfect temperature so I have plenty of time to write this blog. Clear skies,

Looking for the Green Comet and Our first Art and Crafts Show of the year

The weather here has been about as bad as it can get. Luckily we did stay above freezing, (barely), but the clouds, rain, and fog has kept us from viewing the Green Comet. To keep ourselves occupied we have been making jewelry, buying rocks, and Renita had been braiding kumihimo necklaces. The day before our Blue Lagoons Arts and Craft show, the sun appeared, the temperature warmed up, and the day turned out to be one of our craziest day of the winter. Friday night we play a card game called Jokers and Pegs but instead of calling it a night we headed across Copano Bay to try to see the Green Comet. Dodging the herds of deer, we reached the Coast and found a dark sky. Our first place has changed so much that the lights from the bridge and a convenience store had destroyed any hope of spotting much of anything. There was a sight about fifteen miles north but instead we decided to try a new place and luckily we found a dark sky.

The moon was near full, and we doubted we would see the faint comet. Ever the optimists we got out the binoculars and scanned the sky. It was so bright that not much was visible, only the brightest stars of the Big and little Dippers. We spent quite a bit of time looking, Renita claimed to have spotted it, but I could not confirm her sighting. It was so bright that I did not set up my camera settling for a few pictures using my Galaxy S23 Ultra phone. The pictures adjusted for the darkness, were much brighter than it really was. We had also brought our best DSLR Canon camera and a tripod, but we never tried to take any exposures.

Returning home, we put stuff away and went to bed. It was after midnight, and we were getting up at five thirty so we could set up for the show. Still, we made it up in time to set up and welcome the other artists. People started arriving before opening, and we got so busy that I didn’t take any more pictures.

Our rv park is a small one, so we never got crowded but we were still busy showing all of our work. Pam and Roy, Renita's sister and her husband also showed their jewelry. Other’s included Zita, who makes decorated cups, t-shirts and hats. She took orders including ones that Pam and I placed for cups with our schools name and mascot, “Go University of Northern Iowa Panthers”! It was a short show, only three hours long but we were tired. We had good sales as did many others. We also bought some card holders from our friend Diana, maple syrup made by our friend Alan, and a Wyoming Jade slab from our friend Jim. It was a good show and now we are working to get ready for the Gulf Coast Gem and Mineral Show! Its always the first weekend in March, and this year’s show is the sixtieth one. Clear skies