Whooping Cranes

We took a drive to Lamar yesterday, to see if we could find the Whooping Cranes that I've heard about. Sure enough, there they were in a field, with  cattle, across from St Charles Bay.  They don't look that large from the road.  My bird book states that they are over 4 ft tall and a wing span of over 6 ft. I don't think I would want to get too close.  They are still on the endangered list, slowly increasing in numbers.

Picture of St Charles Bay .

If you look close you can see a dolphin fin, in the last picture. We saw about 5 swimming around in Aransas Bay, close to the road.  There are so many things to see around here, as far as wildlife, it never gets boring.

I've made some adjustments to how I've been blogging, hopefully the pictures will be placed better and my writing doesn't all run together. Still learning new things. -M

Dutchoven cooking and The "old" Prowler

The sun finally came out mid afternoon yesterday, but with a cold north wind. So, needless to say we didn't get our Vitamin D.
         We liked our old "Prowler". We went to Oregon in a Pop-up to visit Vel's family and came back in this Prowler (24ft). We had it for 12 years, then we briefly had a Passport (30ft travel trailer), before we decided to make the big step, 37ft Heartland BigHorn! Now after we are done with this, we have to start stepping back down, Ha!

I need to start doing more Dutch oven cooking, to justify having my heavy dutch ovens and table in the belly of the 5th wheel or basement as I like to call it. We have to be very aware of our extra weight, we don't want to go overboard. I think the best thing I've made in them are Chili Relleno Casserole and Zucchini Bread (picture). It definitely isn't something you just whip up, it takes a few hours of prep, cooking and a beverage to sip on while you are sitting and just watching it bake. OK, maybe thats just how I cook!
Looks like the sun it out this morning! I better go enjoy-M

Dripping Springs TX area

Last April on our way back to Nebraska, we stopped at Dripping Springs TX, to check out the area. We found a very nice newer campground, just west of town, Cottonwood Creek RV Campground. It had a nice walking path in the back, where we could walk the dogs.
The buildings are in the town of Dripping Springs, it has that old western town feel to it. There was a geocache behind the bigger building, that we found. Hey! The town had a Chili cook off while we were there, so we had to go and taste some Texas Chili. The first taste test had no beans in the chili, and when Vel asked about the no beans, the guy gave her a strange look and said "you must be a Yankee" and chuckled. Well, little did we know "Texas Chili" doesn't have beans in it! We tested about 5 more, and sure enough no beans. Personally I like beans in my chili, otherwise it reminds me of a Sloppy Joe, without the bun. Guess I can never be a true Texan.


We did a little geocaching while we were there, I've never had to climb a tree before to find one. This one you could see from the road, hanging in the tree, but you had to look close.
We also found a winery, south of town, Driftwood Vineyards. Very pretty area as you can see. This is all in the Hill Country of Texas. Not too far from the winery is Wimberley, it is a small town with alot of nice little shops downtown. So, of course I had to check them out.
It's suppose to be a nice sunny day today, so we'll have to get outside to get our Vitamin D! M

Think Spring!

I downloaded my 112 pictures I had on my cell phone and to my surprise, I had over 300 pics on my disc. Guess I forgot to delete some. So, since there were spring pics on there, what a good day to show them.
I thought the picture of our old home was pretty cool in the dusk, with the moon above it, too bad it's a little blurry. The single flower pics are some we had around the house. A robin had built her nest in our Arbor, within the Clematis, so it was fairly easy to get a picture of that. The garden of flowers is in a park in Seattle, they were absolutely beautiful! That was when Vel had an assignment up there and, darn, I had to go visit her!
It's raining and in the 50's today, Wash needs to be done, and a few errands in town. The day will go fast as usual. Think Spring!!!!-M

Where's the warmth?

A cold front came through on Monday evening, cooling off the temps. Yesterday the sun came out, and got up to 50. Today is cloudy and it's suppose to rain later and into tomorrow. I'm not complaining, it's alot better than up north.
The pink bird is a Roseate Spoonbill, they mostly live along the gulf coast and are pink because of all the shrimp they eat. Their bill is in the shape of a spoon. The white birds are Egrets and you see them all over down here. You can see a barge going down the channel in the first picture, if you look real close.
Vel is starting a blog: Tucker's Doggie Tales. It will be about all the dogs he meets in our travels, and sometime cats. So, we'll see how that goes. I'll put a link to it on the side of this blog, when I figure it out!
Later-M