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Showing posts from February, 2008

Family time

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Made it down to Harlingen, TX and had a great visit with cousin Becky & Jesse and their daughter Kathy and her children... Sampled some great food at the "mexican flea market" and bought a big 10 lb bag of the most delicious oranges you would ever want to eat! Love em.... Later we all had some wonderful food as we visited and caught up with each other. Becky & Jess have really done a great job shedding the lbs away but not sure I could do as well as them. May give that diet a try though some day...

Blue green jay

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This is that very rare blue green jay. What a wonderful colored bird! Too bad you have to come to Texas to find him!

Laguna Atascosa National Wildlife Refuge, TX

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For all you out there who enjoy birding I don't need to tell you how exciting it was to see this bird up close and personal! This is the green jay and only seen in the Rio Grande Valley in Texas in the United States. He is just like any other jay except this seems to be the only place he is found in the US. Fun bird to watch as all jays can be and the colors! The very top of his head is lavender which unfortunately doesn't show well in these pictures but you can bet I took plenty of picture trying to capture that particular color. What a thrill to see him and a number of other birds at his wild life sanctuary. Not sure why they feed the birds to lure them in but think it is a great idea and we were able to sit behind a blind and get as many pictures as our little hearts content would manage. ha! We saw the chakalaca, golden headed woodpecker, long billed thrasher, red cardinals and to beat it all there is a green jay without the green pigmentation - he has blue instead o

North Padre Island, Texas

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A few pictures from Padre Island at sunset. The smoke from the neighboring areas fires add another dimension which is pretty although not sure all that smoke is so great...

Corpus Christi, Texas

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Took a drive thru tour through the great town of Corpus Christi while here this time. Cruised along the shoreline and viewed many of the huge homes along the waters edge. Stopped in at a marina and spied this replica of the Nina from ol' Christopher Columbus days... fun. Also stopped for a stroll along the boardwalk at a wildlife refuge where we frightened the roseate spoonbill away much to our disappointment and spotted the American Shoveler (a type of duck). fun... Driving around was fun since we had not seen this town before and stopped at Golden Corral on way back to camp for a "hearty meal!

Group Photo Op!

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This is one of those group gatherings when we all had to hang out until the camera was set up to go off on the timer.. ha! Last year we all met in Quartzsite (minus Gary & Terry) and this year we were all on North Padre Island, TX. Wow! This group included Dean and Laurie Singer (old friends from Houseboat Yacht Club), Terry & Gary and Bob & Sharon & Dave - all from Alaska trip in '04. It was great all getting together and since we haven't all seen each other for a while we were treated to an evening of pictures from Gary & Terry's trip to Australia and New Zealand. They had a great time over there and the pictures were great.

Corpus Christi, TX

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This has been a most interesting winter! Our schedule had a little glitch when our ice maker decided not to work, so after leaving Lake Conroe, we stayed the night at the dealer in Houston to get a quick fix on ice maker. Turned out there was a broken wire behind the refrigerator! Oh goody, that was apparently not only problem though because it still doesn't work so must be ice maker itself since everything else has been checked over. Destination, North Padre island across the bay from Corpus Christi. As much as I hate tall bridges - I looked at this one with dread especially with the wind pounding against us all the way down here. Of course Early did a great job as always getting us to our destination. It was a harrowing day fighting the wind either against our side our head on but we were happy to finally get back to the water's edge and meet up with our good friends Laurie & Dean Singer and Sharon & Bob Fischer!