November 13,  2012  11 am cst    67 degres F.

Saw these two bulldogs on Padre Island yesterday................ Winston (top) and Fletcher, (bottom).   Their faces just make you smile, don't they?

 

It was a windy day and there were about 8 kite surfers there.

  It looks like it takes a long time to get to get the kite, strings, etc, all lined up on the beach

 

 

 but once that is done, you put on your harness,

 

 

 

 

get someone to hold the kite up to catch the wind,

 

bend down very crefully to get your board,

And wade in.

 

Then hang on for dear life because you will be moving fast.

 

Friday night we went to the last game of the San Benito football season.

  We went early because it was homecoming and we didn't know how  difficult it would be to get in but as it turned out, we were VERY early.

 As we were getting our bearings , these friendly men asked us where we were from , who we were cheering for etc.

  We obviously were not the usual football attendee as we had no purple on, (both teams wore purple...Weslaco-purple and white; San Benito, purple and grey...the greyhounds),we were older than the average homecommig crowd and didn't seem to know what we were doing.

Anyway, turns out that they are coaches for the Weslaco team and teachers at Weslaco High.  Nice guys.  Sorry for the bad picture..I inadvertanly took the auto focus off and was too stupid to notice.

Anyway, they said that San Benito was already out of the running for the playoffs so would we cheer for Westlaco?  Yep. 

By the way, the teachers... history on the left, English on the right, said that they have a period in each school day for football.  Sort of like a phys Ed class, I guess....if a student doesn't want to play football, they can do some other sport, but part of the teams practice is during the school day.

So we sat on the Westlaco side , right on the 50 yard line but down pretty low.

  

  About a gazillion cheerleaders directly in front of us were very distracting, tho.

 

Distracting for me by shaking those pommy things and making pyramids etc,. but to Neil because he kept saying he thought this particular cheerleader was the second pretiest girl he has seen...Mary Jo being the first.

I have mentioned before that it is a surprisingly sophisticated  stadium.  Here is the scoreboard complete with video and instant replay.

I don't know who was in the bleachers because it looks like most of the school was involved in the evening in one way or another.  Just check out the musical equipment that moved onto the field with the band

then there were these flaggy people and the marching people

I don't know who these people were but I think they just formed a line for the players to run onto the field through.

Then there was the Navy ROTC who held the flag for the Natioal Anthem.

Finally and seemingly endlessly, the introduction of the homecoming candidates..dozens of them. Of interest to me was this partiular thing they do here and I am not sure I have this right but the young  man who helps you find your seat explained to me  like this:

See the young lady on the far right with flowers on the top of her outfit? 

And all those streamers. I guess it is some sort of thing that well wishers send to the candidate to show their support.

 

Finally,..... the game.

Unfortunately, Weslaco played badly and lost the game and the opportunity to go to the playoffs.

It was a long and tiring evening and I am once again glad I am not young and have to do this often.

Next week,  Neil and I  play competition shuffleboard.  Just my style sport. 

What kind of person wears high heels to the beach?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

November 6, 2012 , 4 pm cst     temp.81 degrees f.

Last year we didn't get around to going to the turtle rescue center until well into the winter and then it was too cold and the  pools for the turtles were covered.  We went earlier this year. 

This is Gerry, a male  green sea turtle who spent a lot of time looking at us look at him ...he was waiting for us to feed him some lettuce but there wasn't any available at the time.    How much lettuce does it take to feed a 200 pound turtle, I wonder.  In the sea, he eats mostly sea grass.

 Gerry is a permanent resident of the center and is used in some of their education lectures.  In this capacity, he has met some famous people including  Johnny Carson and David Letterman    

This is the Kemps Ridley turtle, the only one native to our area.  His name is Hang 10 and he is a permanent resident .  He was rescued  when he was young and he will stay here because he has genetic  deficiencies.  Don't know what the deficiencies are but I  think it involves the mouth.  Kemps Ridleys are the smaller sea turtles.

The sex of turtles is determined by the temperature in their nest.  Below 85 degrees= males. Above 85...well, you get the idea.

Turtles only lay eggs every other year and they usually lay hundreds at a time.  There is no menopause for the female turtle..she will lay eggs all her life, but like the director says, once she lays them she is finished with them so .....no hassle raising the kiddies.

This is the director of the center, Jeff George.

Here is something I didn't know: Leatherback turtles eat mostly jellyfish and if you look at this picture, you can see how plastic bags are a danger to them.

Here is a wall of pictures of turtles saved.

Tomorrow, Nov 7th, they are releasing three more rehabilitated turtles.  The public is invited to  go and it only costs $10 each to be on the boat when they go out to do this.

We talked about going but I think I would have a lot of trouble being on a boat.  There really isn't much to see either, so we decided......... .no.

This just doesn't seem like the right wording.  It looks like these dedicated turtle rescue people are riding the highways looking for stranded turtles...perhaps at a bus stop or at a local bar asking for a ride to the nearest seashore.

This is a photo at the rescue center of a hatching.  Because predators get most of the turtle before they can get to the water, volunteers protect the new hatch until they get to the water.  

One in one thousand turtles will make it to adulthood.

We tried to guess who the owner of this car might be.  A felon? A lawyer?  A hard nosed judge?

.We stopped in at Cameron County Park on the way home and the owner of this bait shack asked Neil to stand beside this man while he took a picture.   The young man was supposed to working  and owner of the shop took the picture to show his daughter who is engaged to the young man.  Don't know why he wanted Neil in the picture

Finally on the way home, we stopped at what I thought was the Birding Center to go to the bathroom.  I took the picture because I have never seen a public bathroom so clean and attractive.  Turns out I wasn't at the birding center but at the Convention center and there were a lot of well dressed business people with laptops and briefcases there.
Oh, well, when you gotta go, you gotta go.

Here is another one of those billboards that irk me.  I don't know who sponsors them but it looks like they are aimed at increasing road rage.

Tuesday, October 30, 2012 9 pm 75 degrees

We went to the Brownsville flea market looking for a little table that might hold the laptop and get it off the kitchen table but didn't find anything

It is a fun place to visit tho.  You can buy anything from birds

To boots

and even these............  um I guess they would be called dolls....................... which I cannot believe that anyone would buy...but no little table.

I got tired after a bit and said, "Let's sit down. "

I looked and Neil is sitting on the benches across from me....I don't think he even knew I wasn't  there.

I have blocked out the writing on this next billboard because I want you to guess what it is advertising.  Don't look, but the answer is at the last of the blog.  Clue:  she is not advertising beaches, suntan lotion or tropical  vacations.

I am just beginning to know how big football is in Texas,

This is a high school football stadium in Harlingen.

There are 6 high schools in Brownsville and every one of them has a big stadium like this.  

I don't think the University of Maine has a nicer stadium.

Over the weekend  there was a game over near Weslaco...I don't know which town....but it was a big rivalry and there were 14,000 people in attendance.  I couldn't believe that number was right so when the Time Warner man was here installing internet (yes, we have internet at the RV now), I asked him and he agreed...14,000 people.  

I think this guy should  be watering his lawn instead of mowing it.

She is advertising vein surgery.  Do you think they just misspelled vain?

These are my favorite Halloween  decorations.

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Tuesday, October 23,2012        1pm       85 degrees

Winter can begin now, we are all settled into our winter home where the temperatures outside run in the 90's every day with one day over 100 degrees.  I could say we came back a little early, but....no...it's cold in Maine so I am happy here.

Of course we spent a little time looking around to see what has changed and what hasn't.  There is a tree that we like just because it is old and gnarled and interesting and it just happens to be in a graveyard, so we went to visit it. 

On the way , I noticed this grave.  I think they might want to re-think a Happy Birthday balloon on a grave where the occupant didn't make it for more birthdays.....not too happy a day, maybe.

  Just a  suggestion.

We also laughed about this building that we thought was a bargain book store, so we went in and found it is a publishing place for a weekly booklet called the Bargain Book about local for sale items.  Oops.

 

Biggest changes in the area, tho ares these 171 wind turbines that have been going up since January. When complete at the end of the year, they will generate 400 megawatts of electricity.

 This nice flat ground is ideal for wind turbines as they need to be 20 or more times the height of anything else in the direct area.

 This crane lifts the 160 ft. long blades into the post.

I always wondered why there was so much opposition to wind power and according to the news here, one of the reasons is that because heat rises and the blades turn continuously  their stirring  actually brings the heat that has  naturally risen back down to  ground level.   As to the danger to migrating birds which directly relates to this area as it is a natural migration  route, they have developed radar that detects large flocks of birds and they can turn the turbine off when the birds are in the area.  I wonder if that will actually happen.

 I like all the murals and  decorations painted on buildings.

 Look how the decorative painting makes this little in-between place show up to better advantage.

 This one is a little misleading because it honors American and Mexican cinema.  Mexican cinema?

Hate this billboard.  Panders to the idea that everyone wants to be young again   and by just saying so, you will be.  It's a Peter Pan idea.

Neil's whine cooler.

March 10 2010  6pm 82 degrees

broad billed hummingbird

Here we are at our new RV Park where we have decided to  leave the camper year round.   That's us behind the orange tree

 There is a pair of hooded orioles  that keep us entertained by coming to the hedge where we can see them  eating the oranges that Neil puts out for them. 

 A mockingbird also comes to the oranges but he is a bully and drives the orioles away

Holidays bring out the street vendors.  This one is selling pinatas

Just about every street corner has someone selling these eggs.  They are real eggs hollowed out with confetti put inside and sealed at the bottom.  They sell them by the dozen and on Easter the kids hit each other on the head with them.   Sounds like fun.

Easter decs at the cemetary.  I don't think they were expecting  the stone to be rolled back on Easter morn, tho.

  

About 6 years ago when we were in Arizona, we met a couple  from Sorrento Maine and  then again last week, we were at Santa Ana  wildlife refuge on a bird woalk and met them again!  I just can''t get over the coincidence of that.  They come down to the valley for a few months every years so we plan on seeing them again next year.

I  love this house.  As soon as I become rich, I am buying this house  where Neil and I will live downstairs and Sammy will live upstairs and write his first great screenplay.  There is also a little garden apartment off to the side for Mary Jo to open her  speech therapy office.  

Well, I have two laptop computers and both are nearly dead.  One has only a blue screen and the other overheats (this one that I am using at the library with a cheesy fan blowing on the processor to keep it going) 

I think this will be my last blog on this  trip . We leave here May 1 , go to Fort Worth to spend some time with Matt and Lori and then  home for the summer

. Close with some pictures that I like but never got into the blog or until the computer heats up  and turns itself off.