December 27,2011   9pm cst    52 degree

Black neck stilt

Mexicans just do things a little differently...... especially cemeteries.

 There are several sites here with these iron cages all around them.  I don't know if it is to keep vandals out or the departed in.   I am leaning toward keeping the departed in after seeing this message apparently from one who was not happy with his living relatives.

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 . Some relatives, however have left messages back saying they will not forget.  Note the broom leaning against the tree.

I have no explanation for this  bench, but in my imagination it is the grave of a cheating wife who died at the hands of an angry husband.

 We have been seeing a few more birds when we actually have sunshine.  Today it was in the 80s, but most of last week was overcast, rainy and low 50s.  I love that these ducks are called whistling ducks.

  You can see that he is concentrating on trying to pucker up that beak for a whistle.

Neil thinks there is someone very sick in the house just next to this tree that has 50 or 60 vultures sitting and waiting 

 Can you guess the name of the book I am reading?   This picture below  is a a clue.  

Yes, you got it!  Howards End

Tuesday Dec 20, 2011   10 pm cst   61 degrees

Mississippi Kite

Last night we went to the 100th anniversary of the San Benito Christmas parade which started at 6 pm.

  It had been postponed twice because of rain but Monday was beautiful and warm.  We both  have had the flu, me first then Neil so we had been  shut in for over a week and it rained  all of that time.  We were so ready to do something  fun.

Lots of High School bands from surrounding areas and the kids got into the Christmas spirit.  There is  a saxophone in there someplace

This was sponsored by HEB Supermarket.  I thought he was cute..

But these junior high drummers just took my heart.  It appeared to me that those who did not have a drum used trash cans which gave it a sort of  Blue-Man-Group-sound. 

But................but.......just look on the far right    the  boy carrying a desk-type wastebasket right side up.  I could only surmise that he misunderstood when the leader said they could use trash cans.  My heart broke for this little guy.  He looked very uncomfortable

Road Hump?  I like the term Speed Bump better

I don't know, but palm trees don't lend themselves to Christmas decorations very well, do they?

Who's brilliant idea was this?  Well, at least it is in English.

December 8 2011   10:pm cst    55 degrees

Spotted Sandpiper

Finally we are seeing a few birds.  Maybe I should say a few kinds of birds.  If you have ever wondered where the starlings go in the winter, I can testify that they are all here in the lower Rio Grand Valley.

Hundreds and hundreds in a single flock.  I don't know how the crop can grow

Which of these is the lemon?

It was a bad year for the citrus  (no rain), and the Mar oranges that I love because they are low acid grew no larger than a baseball.  Although the fruit is ripe on the inside, they range from dark green to yellow-green.  They do taste good, but it takes a lot of oranges to make juice in the morning.  The lemon is on the left, the middle is a Mar orange, and the right is a grapefruit.  The variety of lemon is called ponderosa lemon and is a cross between a citron and a lemon.  The grower tells me that there is enough juice for two lemon pies.  I'll never know.

The town of San Benito has few inhabitants whose first language is English, (and most of them have only 

one language) so it is my own fault that when I walked into the salon and asked for a haircut, I discovered too late that the dolled-up stylist probably only understood every other word and I understood less of what she said..  Result: I probably won't need another haircut  this winter.... well, certainly not this year.  I could have tried another shop like this one

With a Texas name like big hair, I think she would have left some of it on my head. 

I could have tried this one too, but .I think this one woud have shaved me bald and told me I had the illusion of hair.

I'm pretty sure  Joe isn't happy about running for constable.

Stinking dog thinks that is funny.  Pull my paw!

December 2, 2011 Rio Hondo, Texas 7:30 pm cst  74 degrees with a light breeze

 

The boy who likes snakes has  plenty of snake here.  Matt's friend's boa constrictor is  about 12 or 13 feet long and weighs about 60 to 80 pounds.  Neil wanted Max to see this picture so Cinny or Betsy,.if you think it is appropriate..

 I want to point out that I did not take this pic as I didn't get  in the same building with that snake.

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I am happier with Matt's dogs who are:  Fippy on the left,  Hack in the back, Oso, the big head in foreground, and the grand old lady, Sadie,on the right.

 Oso can jump the half door in the kitchen without even half trying.  He is a big doggie and a real sweetie. If I could, I would have brought him home with me.

On our last night in Fort Worth, Matt and Lori took us out to Papadeaux's  for supper. That gumbo  looks good and my Lobster stew was great.  We also had some kind of smoked oyster fondue that was three times better than it sounds .  

After dinner, we helped decorate the tree but my stomach was full and we were having a good time and I completely forgot to take a picture.  You'll have to take my word for it, it was pretty

We were really in no hurry to leave Fort Worth , but Howie, who does not play well with others, was reading the map and getting in the car so he would not have to share our attention with other dogs.  He's so spoiled.  

This is a view of the city from the street next to Matt's and Lori's...really nice quiet neighborhood but within view of downtown.

This picture was taken as we approached  Raymondville, the first big town after the King ranch area. We saw all these palms that have recently been trimmed.  Neil said, "Barbie! I think we made a bad turn.  This looks like an Indian burial ground."

All settled in  for a long winter of sunshine.

Did I mention that I love this dog?

Sunday Nov 27, 2011  4pm cst  47 degrees and windy

Today we went to the stockyards in Fort Worth.  Every day at 11:30 am and 4:30 pm they run cattle right through the  public streets.. The city of Ft. Worth previously provided the cowboys for this event but it just didn't go smoothly.......fights etc.,      (I guess that was before they had a really tough but fair Human Resourses analyst...that would be Lori)................. so now the Convention Center and Visitors Center  provides these men and women who also walk around just for color and picture taking in between drives.

They only run about a dozen cows and the whole thing only takes about 5 minutes, but it is fun to see.

I wonder that they can run these animals out in public with horns like these.

Longhorns can live about 20 years if well tended and will weigh between 800-1500 pounds.

Ever heard a stray cattle called a maverick?  The term came from a cattleman named Sam Maverick who claimed every unbranded cattle he saw was his.  An unbranded cattle came to be called a maverick.

Neil likes these walkways and fences all around the stockyards because they are made of mesquite which is rough and twisted looking wood but I guess it lasts forever.

You can see Molly, the model for my pin,  under the words Fort Worth here at the Stock Exchange

This is Ft. Worth 's city hall.  

Across the street is the annex which is where Lori works.

It was originally  the gas works and you can still pay your gas bill in this beautiful ornate original office.  I particularly like the ceiling.

but upstairs is all  updated .  This is Lori's office

  This is called the zipper building by the locals.  It was originally a factory for Dickies, the work clothes and belt making company.  Dickies belts were advertised as having a feather edge, thus the feather at the end of the zipper.

The city also bought this building for use as additional office space but the zipper stays. I guess if you were trying to tell someone where to find a certain office and said it is in the zipper building, there would be no question as to which building  they were talking about.

I think the architect of this church was really a bird house designer.

November 22,2011  60 degrees f.  4pm

Today marks the 48th anniversary of President Kennedy being shot.  What stuns me is that I can remember it like it was yesterday. This may be a sign of old age because although I can remember something that happened 48 years ago, I can't remember erasing some pictures that I planned to use on this post. 


Lori took us through her office building

 which is a beautiful old building in downtown Fort Worth but when I was downloading the pics from that day, I just stupidly neglected to push the save button. Gone.  I hope I can sweet talk my way into another tour if I can apologize enough for the mistake.

Meanwhile, Howie has been meeting some new friends at the dog park.  At first he stuck to the fence and looked petrified if another dog came up to  make friends.  He likes people 

but scared of other dogs.  There were some cute doggies there.

Know the difference between a French and an English bulldog?  Me either but take your choice here, there is one each.

There were three varieties of oak trees in the park but look at the different sizes of acorns.  The largest one is called a Burr Acorn.  It would take a pretty good sized squirrel to take that up to his nest.

The dogs behaved beautifully...Neil....not so much.

I wrote before about the old county courthouses where the road goes around the building. Weatherford, the town where we are staying, has some cool stores on the square.  This one I thought was a bread store because it is called Two Heels and a Loafer, but come to find out, it is a shoe store.  

Like the name Hair on the Square.

In the event you have a diseased ankle, there is a foot and ankle specialist.  Never heard of an ankle specialist before.

And if you are not too fussy about your cook, you can get some bread at the Bimbo Bakery.

Actually, Bimbo bakeries are a huge corporation and sell bread under many names, some which you may recognize,(Arnold, Sara Lee, Entermans etc.) but do not have the unfortunate meaning that Bimbo has in the US.

We went to Fry's the other day to buy a simple little thing for the computer and look a the size of this store that has only electronics.  Needle in a haystack.

I hate the looks of this building..It is purposely made to look like it is going to fall over.  Imagine being in this building when a tornado is foretasted....It might blow it straight!

                    Ronald McCowboy


I am in desperate need of cribbage lessons, otherwise I am going to have to buy some larger sized hats for Neil.