December 31, 2013 10 pm cst 45 degrees and rainy

After spending the afternoon at Laguna Atascoca where we saw very little of interest, we were on our way home and  came across this bobcat sauntering down the road paying little or no attention to us.  After a while, he (she?) looked back  as if to say, "What are you looking at, tourist?" and  then trotted off into the brush where she disappeared almost immediately.

Earlier in the week we went to the Gladys Porter zoo where this juvenile gorilla was just harassing the adults.  Manuel (see picture later in blog) tells me that JR.....the juvenile gorilla............... is the only male in the area.....all the others are females and JR rules.  Here  he is pulling the adult's hair and later we saw him trying to steal the orange out of another adult's hand.  There are 4 male gorillas in the zoo but they are all related so they are in another area.

The girls just sat around (I suppose gossiping)  in poses just like people.

This is the way flamingos eat.  They tip their heads upside down in the water and swing it from side to side to bring mud and water in their mouth and then somehow or other their tongues  filter out the nutrients. They may also stamp their feet to stir up the mud  to get more nutrients from it.  A flamingo doesn't get it's color until it is at least 3 years old.

Charlotte is a volunteer at the sting ray pool

She says that the sting rays like to be patted so Neil did.  I took pictures.

The ray kept coming back for Neil to pat him.  Charlotte says the barbs on his back have been removed but for us not to try to touch them on the underside.  Not a problem.

I got a little too close to the caracara cage and he thought he would sample my shirt .  I guess it wasn't too tasty because he let go when I tugged at it.

I don't know if this little guy enjoyed the zoo..............he was too short to see.

This looked like a time out for giraffes who had been bad but when I got up closer 

I found that the sign was for you to make a donation to a fund that helps conserve giraffes in the wild and for that donation, you would be able to feed the animals.  Once again, the same little boy is too small to even see them and look at the straggly little branch he got to feed them.  The others got long green branches with leaves. Bad grandparents were totally unaware

 

The little girls parents lifted her up.

She was scared but doesn't the giraffe  look pleasant and gentle?

I guess he likes children because both he and the baby are sticking their tongues out at the ladies taking pictures. 

This is Manuel and he is the keeper of the giraffes 24-7 .  He says that when that little baby was born, the mother wouldn't take care of it so he had to hand feed it.  It was 6 ft tall and he had to carry it out of the cage.  I don't know how much it weighed but he said it was heavy.

Have you seen those cartoons with cute little Meerkats?  Lies!

Just look at those evil eyes and he could use a pedicure.

Does he look hungry to you?  I thought he was looking a little to directly at me...Time to leave.

The New Year always brings itself in without my help so  I will toddle off.

Happy New Year

December 17, 2013  9 pm cst   56 degrees

We went to Hidalgo for their Festival of Lights which is the biggest Christmas light show we have ever seen.  We intended to take the tram for a guided tour as we only saw  a small portion of the city's lights but we stopped to see these Kids from Mexico and stayed for the whole show.

They were just  delightful and that little one at the left stole the show when he sang.  

There wasn't much in the city that didn't have a string of lights on it

I understand that one man, a popular singer from Mexico, owns both of these houses .  I wouldn't want his light bill this month.

the displays were really remarkable

Some were not as effective as others. I think this one would scare little children but then clowns do anyway, don't they?

but this one just took your breath away.

this is a close up on the dragon just to show how they got that amazing effect.

And some just can't be explained

If you have read this blog before, you might remember we visited Hidalgo a few weeks ago and saw some Martian looking kid figures that I said that I would find out why they looked like that.  Well, it seems they are part of a display having to do with the movie Shrek.  Thats about all I can tell you about these figures.

We also went to the San Benito Christmas parade..................

the theme of which was a Cowboy Christmas.  Lots of marching and dancing girls....these cowgirls had a little trouble keeping the hat strings in the right place...............

and there was  a horse race....................

Also there were Mary,Joseph, the baby Jesus, and a sweet little angel.  Mary wore pink shoes.

Of course if you have cowboys, you gotta have native people too.  Beautiful costumes.

Some cute little angels-and kids having a good time.

 Neil, however,was not having a good time,  He was cold!

  Before this winter I have never known him to be cold even during the worst New England winter.  Well, we went home but with lots of Christmas spirit

Last blog  until after Christmas so..................... no blog next week.

Have a wonderful and joy filled Christmas from  Neil, me, Howie and Twink  

December 10,2013  11pm cst   43 chilly degrees

There are a bazillion of these ordinary house sparrows at Neil's bird feeder but he just loves them. 

We did go search for a rare bird that is supposed to be  in the area............. the Amazon Kingfisher...guess he took a wrong turn somewhere..... and met these nice folks from Missouri who were ready for our weather. He said he has thermal underwear, lined boots and wool socks .  His wife, not shown here, has a fir hat and down coat and also thermal undies.  The temperature was around 40 degrees.  We didn't see the kingfisher, by the way.

It has been cold for this area this week, but we still went to Pendleton Park to feed the ducks.  

These little ducklings were just running around not too worried about my camera.  Cute little yellow and black ducklings will grow up to look................................

like this.  They are muscovy ducklings.

These are the Christmas decorations

at  the local Jack In The Box hamburger restaurant.  A mite sparse.  Maybe Jack in The Box is owned by the Amish...Just guessing.   At least it wasn't crowded as you can see.

Here's a good idea..if you want to text on your way to work, take the bus.

Texas knows

December  3 2013 8 pm cst  82 degrees

People at the beach from another century

fruit from another planet.

Actually we looked this up and think it is called a sausage tree, a native to Africa.  This one is growing in someones yard but why they want it there, I don't know as the fruit is toxic to humans and if one of those fruits fall on car, roof or people,  it can do some damage cause they are big!

Can't seem to stay away from the flea market but there is always so much to photograph there.  At the entrance to this one, little lights dance on the floor and keep the children amused for a long time.  This little boy kept trying to stamp them out.

there was even a carnival sideshow there.

A little sign of our age....Neil didn't even look at the lingerie.

Hmmmm.....kinda busy prints..do you wear these under slacks?  Skirts?  What?

Oh, no!

no no no

More mystery...What does one do with an iridescent orange statue of the grim reaper?  Nothing I want to know about I guess.

On the way home we saw these privileged chickens who spend the day lounging on a sofa in the front yard.

and this worker on his lunch break

Neil has been after the park owner since last year to trim the palm trees because on a windy day, those fronds come down and can really scratch up a car.This week the man showed up .  This is a man 75 years old shinnying up those trees and removing the old growth with a machete.

hot day