Week Four, January, 2009

Week four has brought us to the end of our first month in Port Aransas...we continue to live such a blessed life and enjoy being with our friends David & Nadine. Our days consist of a long walk on the beach, seeing the local sights, eating and playing cards. The animals are the dolphins, pelican's and other birds species.....like my friend Diane said "we have gone from deer to dolphin".....these are not trained dolphins so when we do catch one emerging quite a bit out of the water we get very excited. This last week was also a huge reminder that life is so precious as we lost our dear friend Larry Peters. Larry and Loyal graduated together from White City, Kansas and we will miss him dearly....

the jetty's are filled with fishermen on the sunny days and Sunday was absolutely perfect...

It was fun watching this bird work his "dinner" in position to swallow whole....

the tail of one dolphin and the back of another

this pelican had just swallowed his lunch

sea gulls

the dolphins like to swim in the wake of the ships and this one was really jumping....our treat for sure...

This is one of the six ferries....notice the motor home on board....in fact, this motor home brand is Yellowstone....how about that?

1-26-2009

Pictures by rubybluediamond - Photobucket

another design by my niece....enjoy

My niece's webpage

Sunset picture by rubybluediamond - Photobucket

This graphic was designed by my niece Ruth Becker......in fact this is a picture of mine used in the sunset....check it out.....

Week Three, January, 2009

David & Nadine walking on the shore of North Padre Island which is about 25 miles from where we are staying in Port Aransas.....

We went to this wildlife refuge and was very impressed.....below is a copy and paste telling about it....the whooping crane will leave here late March, spend a month in Nebraska before getting to their final destination of Northwest Territory, Canada...there are only 450 or so in North America....at one time the number was down to 15.....

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge The bugle of an endangered whooping crane echoes across the far reaches of the marsh. Only at Aransas National Wildlife Refuge do North America's tallest birds find an enduring winter stronghold. Here, too, pelicans, herons, egrets, roseate spoonbills, ducks, and geese dine in brackish waters and salt marshes teeming with fishes, blue crabs, and clams. On shore, javelinas, bobcats and deer wander oak woodlands. Alligators peer from still waters of ponds and sloughs. Ringed by tidal marshes and broken by long, narrow sloughs, this 59,000-acres refuge sprawls mostly across the Blackjack penisula, where grasslands, live oaks, and redbay thickets cover deep sandy soils. Storms and waters of the Gulf of Mexico constantly reshape this vital refuge, home to over 390 different bird species.

This is as close as we could get to the whooping crane....also a cropped picture but turned out okay. We are going to make another trip and hopefully will be able to see the birds closer....they are HUGE.

We are use to seeing armadillo's dead along the side of the road, but this place was crawling with them....what a sight....

Javelinas or wild swine

Cute deerAnother pretty ocean picture....

Reuniting with classmate of 1960.....we had lunch with Sharon & Gordon Miley. They are winter Texans and Sharon (Gossett) and I both graduated from Chanute High School.....

Week Two--January 2009

Week two has come to a close. Can't believe it is going so fast. Larry and Kathy left us on Friday and John and Sue are leaving today heading back to Florida. We will miss having them with us as we did have fun....below are some of the highlights of the week.

Stationed at Corpus Christi is the USS Lexington, a retired aircraft carrier turned museum...Loyal & I have seen it several times and enjoy it very much...

This is a plaque telling about John McCain being shot down in the war and the next picture is a plane like he was in....VERY IMPRESSIVE!!!

The Lexington was also know as the "Blue Ghost"

I am growing very fond of the pelicans.....

Over 1000 year old oak tree on Goose Island which is about six miles north of Rockport, Texas. Rockport is about 15 miles from Port Aransas. Notice the branches are braced.

Another pretty picture of a blue heron and I caught it in flight....

Coming home from Rockport on the ferry, we had to wait on this oil rig that was being shipped out to sea....the first picture actually should have been the last as it was through the jetties and going out....

This is one of the ferries going behind the ship....look at the size of that rig!!!

Another pelican!!!!

Week One, 2009

Our first evening on the beach produced this beautiful sunset......

The girls.....

The guys......

The gang......

Loyal & Lou Ann

Larry & Kathy

John & Sue

David & Nadine

Lunch on the jetty!!!

Pelican's...amazing birds..

Playing Hillbilly golf.....fun outdoor game for our generation.....

This is our home....we face David & Nadine sharing the same yard.....

Larry & Kathy's home and they share a yard with John & Sue....really a nice set up when you are traveling with friends....

John & Sue's home

David & Nadine's home....

Ship coming through the canal at Port Aransas headed for Corpus Christi.....

January, 2009

After a couple of silent months on our blog I am going to make an honest effort to start 2009 by keeping it up to date....

We are in Port Aransas, Texas along with three other couples we worked with in Yellowstone. David & Nadine Coakley, Larry & Kathy Mickey and John & Sue Champion.

The weather has gotten into the 80's but today we are only going to get up to 67....the eight of us have walked the beach every morning but today going to walk in the afternoon....