Mission, Texas

We are back in Mission for the winter after a thankfully uneventful journey south. The fall weather at home was stunning and it was hard to leave. However, now that we are here, we are getting involved in our local routine and really enjoying it. The first 3 weeks here were hot, humid and windy, which is not something I enjoy. Since I have become a northerner again, it was a little harder to get used to the dramatic change, and I spent a lot of time inside in the air conditioner. However, temps have moderated and we are spending lots of time outdoors. We have had some overnights in the 30's but the daytime temps have been in the 70-80 even though sometimes the wind is pretty strong. Yesterday we had an all day, slow, soaking rain and got 2.25" of rain. In the 20 years I have been coming down here I can't remember anything like this. The area is desperately dry and the rain was a huge blessing.

It has been great to renew old friendships since arriving. At one point we considered wintering in Arizona which is now much closer to home, but we would miss all our friends from here that we only get to see at this time of year.

Another thing I really like about here is the proximity to Bentsen State Park where we can ride our bikes. This area has built up tremendously in the years I have been coming down, and I don't like the traffic but I can ride from our rv park to the state park where there are lots of paved areas, without having to get in the car and drive on the busy roads.

My back is doing better this year so I have been walking a mile in the morning and riding my bike at least 4 miles in the afternoon. I often go into the state park and take my binoculars and then I spend more time goofing around and looking at birds, than riding for exercise. Oh well, it is always a blessing to be out in nature.

We have had some neat birding experiences this year. When you are this close to the Mexican border, there is a chance for a rare bird from the south to show up unexpectedly. So far this year it has been a golden crowned warbler. We had seen one on a trip to Mexico, but not in this country. Dan went to the butterfly park where it was seen but the day was hot and humid and the mosquitoes were out, so I elected to stay home. A few days later when it had cooled off, we both went back and waited in the area where it had been seen. After 3 hours of no bird, another man walked past the 5 of us who were waiting, and continued down the trail. In less than a minute we heard him say "Here's your bird". He had been looking for butterflies and just happened to see the bird we had all been waiting for. Sometimes you just get lucky!

Another unexpected bird is the fox sparrow I saw at Bentsen State Park next door. Fox sparrows are not unusual or rare, but they are for this part of the country. They are a northern bird that virtually never gets this far south but this year is an exception. There had only been one previous record for the Rio Grande Valley but the bird I saw was one of 4 that had been seen in the Valley this year.

Today I had a verdin in the bushes right next to the trailer. Considering this is a bird of the desert scrub vegetation, this was an unusual find. See, I told you it was dry around here!

Earlier this week 3 of us were at Estero Llano Grande State Park....in my opinion, the best park of all the state and federal parks in the valley. There was a red shouldered hawk that we had seen several times as we walked around. Right in front of us he made an attempt at catching an American bittern in the reeds. It was probably just as well he missed as the bittern outweighs him and the fight would have been on. There was certainly a lot of screeching during the encounter.

This RV park gives anyone that is interested, a 10x10 garden space. Two years ago several of us planted things but in the middle of the growing season we had a couple of hard freezes and that was the end of the garden. Last year we did not plant anything. This year I decided I would give it another try and only plant things like lettuce etc that can stand some cold weather. The other challenge is the nasty, heavy clay soil that is almost impossible to work with, poor nutrients and sloping ground. When you water, it crusts over and runs off very easily making it hard for things to flourish. However, I decided I would experiment with different methods...raised beds...in beds with dykes around to keep water from running off...flat ground and regular methods...various fertilizer methods. The other challenge is finding seeds this time of year and about all I could find was lettuce. As a result, I have lots of lettuce coming up in multiple areas with varying degrees of success. However, that is OK as we eat lots of salads and fresh is always better.

Two years ago, my friend Anne and I tried woodcarving. It was enjoyable and we made some things we were pleased with. However, last year we never seemed to get around to doing anything. This year we have turned over a new leaf and are starting some projects again. They have an amazing wood shop here and as long as you sign a release, they let you use the equipment. That really helps when you are starting off with a piece of wood that is too big. We'll have to see what we can accomplish this year.

This is all for now but once again, I resolve to stay more current on my postings.

Kingbirds

Adult Eastern kingbird

Baby kingbird

Three baby kingbirds [the fourth is on a higher branch]

Trying his wings!

Mom feeding baby #4

Our pastor Nancy, asks us how we have seen God in our lives. As a bird watcher and outdoor person living in western Montana, the answer for me is obvious.....just look around, examples are everywhere.

We enjoy our large picture windows that face the mountains on both sides of our house but one evening, when there was a loud thump on a window, I knew a bird had hit. The bird on the ground was an Eastern kingbird that was very stunned. We have one pair that has nested in one of the trees on an island in our pond every year since we have lived here, and this bird was one of them. I immediately started praying for this bird. Dan picked him up and set him on a patio table, and I kept watch. His breathing was labored and his mouth was open. Not a good sign. After a time he tried to stand up but fell over. After 3 hours, he did not look much better and when I went to bed, I was sure he would be dead by morning. Amazingly, in the morning, he was gone. I said a prayer of thanks.

Today, after seeing the pair around the pond and in the tree for the last few weeks, we saw 4 baby kingbirds testing their wings and learning to fly. Obviously the injured bird made a full recovery. I was thrilled and said another prayer of thanks. Talk about an example of the presence of God!

New Yard Mammal [almost]

Dan & I keep a list of the birds we have seen in our yard [the only list I keep].

[Lewis's woodpecker]

This morning we had our usuals, along with our first of the year [FOY] black-headed grosbeak.

I was taking pictures through our front window. Dan was taking the car to the garage to get some work done and I was to pick him up. He headed off and shortly thereafter, I headed down the road. Just after crossing the river, I looked into the bushes and there was a MOOSE!!! While I have seen several moose in different parts of the country, there has never been one 1/2 mile from home! Of course I did not have the camera. I thought "I really should pick up Dan" then just as quickly thought "to heck with it, I am going back for the camera". As a result, I got this great shot of the moose, and Dan wondered what took me so long. It was just as well I got the pic then, because when we came back by, the animal had disappeared into the brush. You just never know what you are going to see around here.

Around Home

Lewis's woodpecker. There are 2 coming to our suet feeders. Would you believe a pink and dark green bird?


Red Crossbill. We have also had white winged crossbill but they are more uncommon in this area.

Osprey. Many nest in this valley. This bird was in the top of our cottonwood tree.

The lettuce I started in the cold frame. It is now big enough to eat but has to be protected by these cages or the deer will get to them first. I planted 20 bean seeds and 19 are up. Looking forward to fresh beans but it will be a while.

Native lupine. Have several of these in the yard.






Ornamental crabapple. These are not a native plant like we prefer but it was planted by the former owner. They sure are pretty even though not native.

Our house. The trees are just leafing out and the lilacs are just starting to bloom. There are 75 lilac bushes along the fence rows on this property. The Sapphire mountains are in the background [to the east] and the Bitterroot Mountains are to the west.

Spring Bike Rides

As you know Dan and I have recumbent trikes that we really enjoy riding. It is one of the few exercises I can do with my back problems [I can't ride regular bikes]. One of the big benefits for me at the RV park we stay at in Texas is that it is right next door to Bentsen State Park which has paved trails/roads and we can ride directly from our park to the state park without getting in the car. And in spite of all the traffic that is in a lot of south Texas, our area is still quite quiet and peaceful. One of the big benefits of our summer home is that there is a 50 mile paved bike path a mile from our house [not that we are going to ride that far]. We had not ridden since we left Texas but today was the day. Temps in the 60's, sunny, no wind, and we set off. It was wonderful. Dan turned around before I did but I rode about and hour and enjoyed every minute. Hopefully we/I will keep this up to get exercise and enjoy the outdoors. Weather here is perfect. Sure glad I am no longer in south Texas!!!

Easter Birthday

Yesterday was Easter but it also happened to be my birthday. I couldn't remember the last time the two were on the same day so looked it up and found some amazing results. Easter can be anywhere from March 22 to April 25 calculated on the date of the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox. The last time Easter was on April 24 was 142 years ago [no wonder I don't remember] and the next time will be in 84 years. I didn't realize what a truly special day it was. I went to church where I enjoyed seeing friends that I missed all winter, plus hearing our pastor Nancy who I like so well. In the afternoon we went to neighbor Mike and Linda's where we had a delicious dinner followed by birthday cake and a special gift made especially for me by their 8 year old granddaughter. It could not have been a more perfect day!

With my birthday/Easter flowers

Dan and me

My special gifts made by my favorite 8 year old girl

Heading North

Left Bentsen Palm Village at 8:30 am. This is early for us when it is the first day out after sitting in one place for 4 months. We got less than a mile from the park when a buzzer came on......never a good thing. Turned out it was a low level in the coolant reservoir. The reservoir is opaque plus the opening is on the side at a weird angle so it is hard to check. However, we topped it up and that took care of the buzzer. We made good time and got to San Antonio about 2pm so missed the rush hour traffic. We got to Johnson City on hwy 281 about 3:30 and decided it was time to quit for the day. Today I got up at 6:30am which is way early for me who doesn't get up until 8:30. Between that and the stress of a first day trip I had had enough. We ate at a good Mexican restaurant across the street and now are enjoying life. It is cooler [68] and less humid up here which of course suits me. I even changed my tank top to a T shirt. I will enjoy sleeping in this cool air. We get to Oklahoma tomorrow but won't have internet at Dan's cousin so not sure when we will be on line again.

Park Creatures

I have been spending quite a lot of time riding in the state park and looking for birds. Several times I have seen bobcats but today, while waiting in our favorite spot for warblers, Dan and I saw a real treat. A bobcat came out from the brush on the right, came to the middle of the road [used only by bicycles and pedestrians], sat in the road, looked back and made a sound, continued to the other side of the road, sat down again and soon a half grown kitten ran across the road and into the brush. Mom then disappeared with the kitten into the trees. We had been sitting quietly looking for birds and although she saw us, she apparently did not think we were a threat. One of my favorite things to do while birding is just sit still in a likely spot and wait to see what shows up. Very many times I have been really pleased with the results.

Bobcat crossing the road

Bobcat talking to kitten

Bobcat with kitten going into the brush

Clay colored thrush. Once very rare but now numerous in this park.

Rufous backed robin. A rare visitor to Bentsen and the butterfly park next door.

Ruby throated hummingbird. We are getting migrating males at our feeder. They are going to miss the free lunch when we leave tomorrow.

More Park Excitement

After my encounter with the drug runner in at the state park exit, I thought that was our excitement for the rest of our stay here. Wrong again. The other night there were 20 illegal aliens in our park [13 in this park and 7 in the same-owner park next door] and the Border Patrol were everywhere. Our front and back gates are locked from 5pm to 8am every night. There is a walk through gate that leads to the state park that has a lock but it is not double checked each night. That is where the illegals entered after swimming the river and coming through the state park. They were heading north and some had gotten into Retama next door, when someone noticed the activity and called the Border Patrol who were all over the area, eventually catching everyone. This happened at the north end of our park and we are in the middle, plus it was the middle of the night, so us ever vigilant people slept through the whole thing!

It is time for us to leave S Texas. When it gets to be hot, humid and the wind blows like hell this place loses its appeal for me. I am still going into the state park every day where there are lots of trees and protection from the wind. I will really miss that as it is so nice to ride my bike through all those areas and see great birds. Our bikes will be in the car until we get home as they are not easy to load and unload but since we have a bike trail at home that is 25 miles long and just a mile from our house, we can look forward to riding on that this summer.

Park Excitement

Last night at 5 pm I decided to take a bike ride through the state park which is right next door to our RV park. There is a paved road in the park that makes a loop which I had gone around twice. I was wanting to go around again but thought that since it was getting near sundown and there was no one else around, perhaps I should consider my safety and not make the third trip. As it turned out, I should have gone around again. As you leave the park there is a levee that you climb to an area at the top where there is currently some construction, then down the other side and on the road to home. When I got to the top of the levee I heard a collision and saw a black pickup truck with Mexican license plates crash through a security gate that had just been installed. There was a big cloud of dust as the pickup accelerated through the gate, made the turn onto the road where I was riding, wiping out a couple of construction barrels in the process. I was on the way down the hill when I realized the guy was right behind me and closing fast. I hit the ditch and he went flying past me, turning at the bottom of the hill onto Old Military Highway. Shortly after a Border Patrol vehicle came at high speed down Bentsen Palm Drive so I pointed out the direction the bad guy was going. As I was talking to Roy, a Texas Parks employee, another Border Patrol vehicle came flying down the levee in the direction the bad guy had come. Roy & I waved him through in the direction the pickup had taken. Since I am so low down when I am riding my trike I could not see into the bed of the pickup but Roy, who had been standing there talking on his cell phone, told me that the bed of the pickup was full of bundles which were fairly obviously marijuana. Dan & I watched the news last night but there was no mention of the chase. This morning I went back to the park to take pictures and immediately saw a construction worker talking to a couple and telling them about the activities of last night. I told him I had been there when it all happened. He said "Oh you're the one who saw it all". He told me they had caught the guy at Anzalduas, about 5 miles from here. There were also 2 Canadians who walk with their 2 german shepherds who said that in the distance from the state park to the palapa which is owned by the owner of our RV park and that our residents can visit [just a couple of miles away] they had seized 2800 lbs of drugs recently. There is also a path that comes up onto the levee from beside the state park that is seeing a lot of drug activity right now. As if that was not enough excitement, this morning when Dan went outside, there was a trail of blood across our concrete patio...probably not an animal as the drops were from high enough up that they caused a splatter when they hit, and there were no tracks.

All in all, just another day in sunny south Texas. Birding anyone?!?

Coming down from the levee and turning left onto Old Military Highway.....the scene of the excitement!

The construction site where the bad guy turned off the levee wiping out a couple of barrels and coming down the road toward me.

The newly installed security gate on the levee that he crashed through and the Border Patrol assessing the damage. Note the bend in this very sturdy [but not sturdy enough] gate

My low riding trike. Great fun to ride but not high enough up to see into the bed of the pickup.

One of 8 blood splatters on our concrete patio this morning.

South Texas Ice Storm [mini]

Here in South Texas we are experiencing below freezing temperatures...something we seldom have to deal with. After the third day, we are finally seeing the sun but the wind is cold. Last night we had light rain which froze on everything and through the night we could hear the ice fall onto the top of the motorhome. The tender vegetation is already frozen and looking very sad. The water pipe coming out of the ground is frozen so I hope we don't have a water leak when it thaws. I have kept the hummingbird feeder full and thawed, but this is really hard on those little guys. However, being inside lets us sort through the many pictures we took on our trip to Peru. While our weather is not nearly as bad as the rest of the country we can be like them, and look forward to spring. Stay warm everyone.

Trip Day Minus One

Tomorrow we leave for our trip. We have everything packed except for toothbrush etc. Once in Peru we have a shuttle flight on a smaller airline that has a weight limit on luggage of 44 lbs per person. We tried to weigh on our bathroom scales but that was iffy at best so we decided to go to the airport and get an official weight. Dan was 3 lbs under and I was 1 lb over but that also included snacks etc that we will eat on the plane before we get there, so we are in pretty good shape.

On the way to the airport we pass the military National Cemetery for this area. There was a young soldier killed in Afganistan whose funeral is today and they were going all out to make everything look perfect. Of course the actual cemetery is always spotless but today the city of Mission was grooming the roadside from the expressway to the cemetery picking up trash, mowing, putting out an avenue of flags along the median outside the cemetery. Mostly the people buried there are retired military but today they are doing everything to pay respects to a young man who gave his life for his country. It touched my heart.

Happy New Year!

I have a lot of updating to do so had better get started. Christmas Eve was spent with 12 friends who went to the Presbyterian Church for the candle light service. I do that every year and really enjoy it. Christmas day was spent with good friends Anne & Scotty, Jim & Linda. We had a non traditional meal at Hyashi Hibachi [like Bennihana] where Dan & I had filet mignon prepared at our table. It was sensational. I had some left over which I took home. I think Dan thought I would share, but with filet, it is every man for himself! I enjoyed it almost as much the next day. When we got back to the park we stopped and had delicious homemade desserts with John & Deanna, Dave & Karen, Pat & Vern. We are lucky to have such outstanding cooks among our friends. After stuffing myself with carrot cake and pies, we headed home and counted our many blessings this Christmas season.

The park has a New Years Eve party but we elected to stay home. I was in the back of the motorhome watching TV when at 10pm I heard a noise in the front. Upon investigation, I found Dan snoring on the couch. So much for a wild New Years Eve. Even the many fireworks at midnight did not wake him up.

We have been riding our bikes more lately and enjoying it. When we got here the state park next door was completely closed due to flooding last summer from the hurricane. The water did a lot of damage and it was taking a long time for the water to recede and the mess to be cleaned up. Before Christmas they opened a small part of the roadway and it was so nice to be able to ride at least part of the way through the park. At Christmas they opened the entire roadway and although some of the trails and birding areas are still closed, it is wonderful to be able to ride as much as we want.

One day while riding in the state park we heard sirens that sounded very close. When riding out of the park there was a great commotion in the parking lot. A couple from Sydney, British Columbia had parked their RV and headed into the state park. Someone noticed smoke coming out of their RV and called the fire department. In no time at all the RV was completely consumed and a total loss. The couple had just sold their home, bought the RV new and were travelling around the country to decide on the next stage in their lives. They had a bunch of cash [which was salvaged] and passports [which were lost]. They are staying in cabins in our RV park until they can get all the mess straightened out. One of them is Canadian and one American so they will have to deal with both country's state departments to get passports renewed. What a huge hassle. There was a problem with their refrigerator causing a gas leak then a fire and explosion. The insurance is not contesting anything since it is a new vehicle but it is still a major inconvenience.

Birders are always looking for something rare and since this area is so close to Mexico, and since birds don't know anything about international borders, South Texas often gets strays from farther south. This time the bird is a black vented oriole and it has taken up residence in our RV park. There is one particular tree that it likes to get nectar from, the coral bean tree, and there are 3 in our park. Birders have been coming from all over the country to see this bird and the traffic is causing havoc in the park. This also happens to be the busiest season for the RV park, and the coral bean tree is at the busiest intersection. For a few days it was chaos until the bird decided to visit the other coral bean tree and the management figured out how to route traffic so everyone is happy.

Yesterday we ate at our favorite Chinese restaurant with friends Jerrie and Mike, Marcia and Dave. After coming home, I started sneezing, my nose running and a headache. I seldom get colds but the timing on this one stinks as it is only 4 days until we leave for our 11 day trip to Peru. I am loading up on cold stuff and taking it easy so it does not spoil our trip. Our trip is a birding trip [of course] which we have been looking forward to. Will give you more details when we get home.

Dan has a partial plate with 3 front teeth which he keeps in all the time. Yesterday one of the teeth fell out [he was eating Fritos....I didn't hit him....honest]. We thought it would be easy to find someone to glue it back in but he couldn't get an appointment until Monday. I forget about it until he smiles and then he looks like a hillbilly! Can't wait until Monday. Thank goodness it did not happen in Peru.

We have had great weather this year, until the past couple of days when we have been forced to stay inside. However, considering last year when the whole winter was crummy, we can't complain.

This is harvest season for the citrus crops down here and I have been taking advantage of a plentiful supply right from the farm, at great prices. Dan asked me what I was going to do when we leave here and have to go back to full price! Not looking forward to it.