Mission, TX - 4th Week - 3rd Month

Mar 26th (Monday)
Went to Hidalgo pump house- we were on our way to Estaro Llano in Weslaco, but when we went through Hidalgo decided to stop and see the old pumphouse. It was on our want list of things to do, and this seemed to be a perfect chance. When we arrived we were just in time to join a bus tour of the old historic town, the new pumping facilities, and then a tour of the old restored pumphouse. It was well worth the $10 entry fee.

The Old Hidalgo Pumphouse-World Birding Center was built on the banks of the Rio Grande River in 1909. Located in Hidalgo, Hidalgo Co., TX, this WBC site is fantastic for both birds and butterflies. The Pumphouse used Honey Mesquite to fuel huge steam-driven boilers that drove massive pumps, which pumped water from the Rio Grande River into agricultural irrigation canals. This maze of irrigation canals runs throughout Hidalgo Co., and they are still in use, today.

The Old Hidalgo Pumphouse-WBC is easy to get to. From US-281 (Coma Ave.) in downtown Hidalgo, turn south on Bridge St. and go six blocks to Flora Ave., turn left (east) On Flora Ave. and go two short blocks to 2nd St., and turn right (south) into the Pumphouse park. It is easy to just follow the signs to the Pumphouse.
On special occasions, the City uses its trams to bring tourists to the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse.

Before crossing the bridge that goes over the "Old Swimming Hole" and taking the path to the Pumphouse, go slowly and watch for birds and butterflies as you meander. This walk is excellent for Golden-fronted and Ladder-backed Woodpeckers, Long-billed and Curve-billed Thrashers. During migration, you can find numerous Neotropical passerines. Watch for Tropical Kingbirds (that prefer a "golf-course" type habitat) in the Pumphouse Gardens inside the fence on your left

The view back towards the parking lot, after you have parked and crossed this bridge over the Old Swimming Hole. The parking lot is filled with flowers, shrubs, and trees. It is very easy to spend an hour wondering in the parking lot, looking for birds and butterflies. Several rare butterfly species have been found here. Be sure to stop in the middle of the bridge and search the banks for Green Kingfishers, Kiskadee Flycatchers and Green Jays and several species of waders. Look down into the butterfly plantings and search for butterflies.
As you are walking down towards the Pumphouse museum, check out the numerous butterfly species you should see in the beds that border the Gardens. Again, go slow and watch for the many species of flycatchers that can be found in this area.
The high smokestack at the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse can be seen from almost anywhere in the City. The very tall smokestack helped, with winds that almost always prevail from the south, carry the dense, oily, black smoke away from the City and towards its northern neighbor, McAllen. In the winter, it dumped its smoke onto Reynosa to the south.
The entrance into the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse-World Birding Center is just below and to the left. Notice how even the old galvanized siding has been preserved and actually make for a pretty effect.
The long walk from the Pumphouse entrance to the Museum gift shop/restooms/offices has loads of interpretive displays on both sides of the walk. Whether or not you are into old tools and heavy machinery, you will enjoy all the displays.

During the Christmas Season, the WBC is decorated with hundreds of Chrismas miniature scenes, and the entire Pumphouse grounds are filled with Christmas Lights. The City of Hidalgo's annual Festival of Lights celebration is the largest display of Christmas lights in South Texas, visited by tens of thousands of people. For more information, check out "Events" on the City of Hidalgo's webpage.
Offices, a gift shop, meeting room, and restrooms are on the right. Downstairs are the enormous pumps and boilers that visitors can view. Just imagine what working conditions were like, below, in the poorly ventilated vast basement of boilers. Heat and fantastic noise had to make for miserable work hours
The tiny City of Hidalgo has invested millions of dollars, developing the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse-WBC. Unlike the other 8 WBC sites, the City utilizes the park differently, with numerous events for its citizens. The amphitheater is used for talks, performances and during the summer, free movies.

The Pavilion, located in the center of the fenced Gardens, is a great place to sit, cool off and up-date your checklists. Many weddings have been performed under its roof; the Pumphouse Gardens are especially pretty at night, when the trees are accented with lights.
Several water features, fountains, and streams are found both outside and within the Pumphouse Gardens; and, wow, do the birds use them.

Birds, odonates, butterflies and frogs, many of which are unique to the Lower Rio Grande Valley, can always be found in this large pool. You crossed over the Old Swimming Hole when you took the bridge from the parking lot. You can access this large pond from the trail that leads under the bridge to the east end of the Old Swimming Hole.From the west end of the Old Swimming Hole pond as you look back towards the Pumphouse, watch for the many species of birds you can see here.
One of the numerous streams that course throughout the Gardens. One of the truly unusual landscape architectural features of the Pumphouse Gardens is that all these streams that are found here (and there are many) simulate the Rio Grande River as it actually exists along the southern border of the City, separating the U.S. and Mexico.
The average annual rainfall in Hidalgo is only 23"/year. Fortunately, the several water features at the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse are of great benefit to the birds.
The bubbling sound from these moving streams bring in the birds. Be sure to watch for odonates around these features, because there are numerous species of dragonflies and damselflies that can only be found in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, and many of them can be found at the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse-WBC.
All of these water features have been planted to attract butterflies...and they do.
This "bend in the River" stream is exactly as it occurs just south of the City. The huge, paved, circular patio is an exact representation of the City streets as they exist just north of the "bend".
Map of the City as you face east.

On the west side of the Pumphouse building, the Observation Deck overlooks a large resaca (ox-bow lake). The resaca is the former intake channel that was at the Rio Grande River. Before flooding of the River caused the River to move and to change course and isolate this bend in the river as a resaca, the Old Pumphouse lifted the water out and pumped the water into the irrigation canals.

In the top-right corner of this photo (just above the interpretive sign), you can see the flags that mark the border between the U.S. and Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Be sure to check out the resaca for Ringed and Green Kingfishers, numerous waders and ducks and many flycatchers.
The large, mowed lawn just to the left and below the Observation Deck is a great place to watch for Long-billed Curlews.
The cool, shady Pavilion is an example of how all nine of the World Birding Center sites in the Lower Rio Grande Valley are appreciative of the fact that we all need to find some shade when running around chasing critters.
Fishermen really like this covered deck. Catfish, bass, and perch are caught here. This is another spot that birders can use to search the resaca and its banks.

Directly behind the Pumphouse Gardens, the Border Patrol truck is parked at a break in the Border Wall. This gap is where the soon-to-be-completed Border Gate will be. Once the Border Wall is finished here, the Dept. of Homeland Security has promised that the Hidalgo Bend Tract of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlfe Refuge and its 900 acres will be re-opened to hikers, bicyclists, and nature observers from the Pumphouse. A neat feature of the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse-WBC is that they provide FREE use of their many bicycles to Pumphouse visitors (just have to leave your Driver's License at the Office).
This is the north side of the Border Wall that is immediately behind the World Birding Center. The Border Patrol truck is almost 6 ft. tall. It is on top of a 16 foot levee road. On top of the levee road is an 18 foot fence. It is a straight drop down the other side of the fence, making the total Wall on the south side ~34 feet tall. The Wall separates the Lower Rio Grande Valley NWR Hidalgo Bend Tract from the Old Hidalgo Pumphose-WBC, and cuts off the National Wildlife Refuge tract from the entire City. An ugly site to most Valley residents.
Directly behind the Border Wall which is directly behind the Old Hidalgo Pumphouse-WBC is the start of the Nature Trail into the 900 acre Hidalgo Bend Tract of the Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge. This trail leads all the way to the Rio Grande River. We have found both Elf Owls and Ferruginous Pygmy-Owls, here. This is absolutely the best location in the entire Lower Rio Grande Valley to see Groove-billed Anis. Hundreds of these birds nest here and are easily seen....as long as access is given back to the birders, as promised.

Mar 27th (Tuesday)
Went for a short levee drive. Drove a couple of miles down along the levee so Denice could take some pictures of birds, specifically, a yellow fly catcher. Then when we came bck continued up the levee towhere I could see the sugar cane fields that had been harvested recently. Now this Sugar Cane growing is a whole new experience to us. I am including a bunch of photos in my blog to hep explain the rotation and gowing of it.

Mar 28th (Wednesday)
Yup, thats what we did!!!!
Mar 29th (Thursday)
Waiting at home for my anchor seal to be delivered. We find the FedEx, or UPS process for that matter, quite amazing that either of them can keep track and deliver to you, so fast from anywhere in the USA in 5 to 7 business days. Here is the report that this product of mine has shown to the present time. It should be delivered here this afternoon some time so we are staying home waiting for it. Here is the report:
(Read from bottom up)   It has been delivered
Date                   Time               Location              Event Details
March 29, 2012 03:42:24 PM Mission TX US Delivered
March 29, 2012 07:54:00 AM Edinburg TX US Out for delivery
March 29, 2012 05:51:00 AM Edinburg TX US Arrival Scan
March 28, 2012 10:01:18 AM Fort Worth TX US Departure Scan
March 28, 2012 01:16:00 AM Fort Worth TX US Arrival Scan
March 27, 2012 04:16:47 AM Grove City OH US Departure Scan
March 27, 2012 12:57:00 AM Grove City OH US Arrival Scan
March 26, 2012 10:20:53 PM Cambridge OH US Departure Scan
March 26, 2012 08:14:00 PM Cambridge OH US Arrival Scan
March 26, 2012 12:00:00 AM Cambridge OH US Shipment received by carrier
March 26, 2012 11:38:00 AM US Shipment has left seller facility and is in transit
Amazing eh!!!


Mar 30th (Friday)
This is Denices interpretation of events ---


WELL!!!! What a night we had.....at about 6:00PM park management came to warn everyone about bad weather coming our way and if necessary, where to go in case of a tornado (club house basement). 6:30, power went off, neighbour Ruth comes over with an update......Tornado Watch......packed my purse (money and passports) pills and camera (of course) ready to head up to shelter if necessary. 7:00PM, Dennis decides to put the awning up..dead calm outside ( calm before the storm) and just in time...starts to rain. Neighbours are staying put..so I watch next door neighbor, Rosemary calmly knitting........torrential rain!!!! Sheet lightening, high winds...Rosemary still knitting....bang on the roof (debris?) that was our weather station blowing over...last recorded wind speed.....54mph...unbelievable lightening (now taking video). Rosemary still knitting. We still have lights, battery power . Storm continues for about 3 hours, Rosemary knitted the whole time...if she had left her Motorhome, I would have been right behind her!!!! No tornado!!!! thankyou God!

Damage, this beautiful morning, trees down, fences down, palm bark all over,neighbors window blew out of his golf cart, one 5th wheel had their large back window sucked out.....lots of devestation in McAllen. Power on at 11:30 this morning. But, we survived! NO HAIL!!!!

Mar 31st (Saturday)
Went on a riverboat tour today on the Riverside Dreamer. We see it going past the RV Park all the time, but never joined them until today. It was a very enjoyable ride for an hour. It docks only a half mile from us. The boat is a cataraman pushed by twin 135 HB outboards.It will take about 25 people in great comfort with air conditioning and very comfortable seating.  We went up the river for a few miles enjoying the scenery , both in the US and in Mexico. We had a chance to view a lot of the devastation from the 2010 flooding of the area. I am not sure that I had previously explained that flooding, but in July of 2010 huge rainfall was reported in the southern central part of Texas and Mexico. The huge Falcon Dam suddenly reached its capacity and someway commnication was lost between the Mexicans and and the Americans and Mexico opened the gates to the dam without American notification. The result was a huge flood all the way from the dam to the Gulf. Waters were reported up to 10 and 20 feet above normal. The RV Park we are in was flooded right out, with only a few sites on high land avoiding damage. This trip on the Riverside Dreamer allowed viewing a lot of those areas most effected.  Soon we turned back and returned and went down the river the same distance before returning to dock and the restaurant. As it was now 1:00PM we decided on lunch there. It was very good. Denice had the shrimp basket, I, the pork sandwich that was huge!!
Apr 1st (Sunday)
It’s going to be an uplifting Sunday in Calgary.

An incredibly rare sequence of celestial events will see residents of Calgary and the immediate area briefly experience the wonders of weightlessness.
The out-of-this-world phenomenon will allow Calgarians to briefly levitate in almost zero gravity.
It’s an occurrence that hasn’t happened since 1925, with the epicentre in the small town of Shymkent, Kazakhstan. At the time, panicked citizens blamed the bizarre incident on witchcraft and mass hysteria.
“This is literally a once-in-a-lifetime event,” said Dr. Lyle Upshot, of the University of Santa Monica, who pointed out that scientists only confirmed the cause of the Kazakh event in the late 1960s.
“And Calgary is so, so lucky to win Mother Nature’s lottery.”
Upshot said the current solar flare acceleration, a full global aurora and the fact an asteroid, B3NHD1420, will pass directly between the moon and Earth will lead to the so-called Lunar Molecular Astro-solar Oscillation levitation event at exactly 10:15 a.m. Sunday.
To take full advantage of the gravity deficiency, people are urged to lay on the floor at 10:14 a.m. in preparation.
Standing during the slight window of opportunity, which may last as long as six seconds, displaces body mass and results in only slight tremors and flesh quivers.
When all the celestial factors collide, people can expect to levitate 3 to 5 inches above the ground, depending on weight, bone density and housing/shelter factors.
People are best able to enjoy the moment outside, where they may also witness a darkening of the sky and atmospheric ripples akin to heatwaves on a hot day.
While being gravity-free for a few seconds could be thrilling, Upshot warns there can be slight dangers involved.
“When this happened in 1925, hundreds of people suffered concussions, so we recommend you wear a helmet,” said Upshot.
You can report your experience to the Calgary Solarium at 403-250-4308.













April Fools !!!!!

Mission, TX - 3rd Week - 3rd Month

Mar 19th (Monday)
Strong winds today - at 9:00PM had to put the awning up - gusting to 30MPH from SSW


Worked on my stained glass most of the day - Using my grinder to fine tune all the pieces to make precision fits
Mar 20th (Tuesday)
Put out the awning again this morning
Mar 21st (Wednesday)

Mar 22nd (Thursday)
soldering latest Stained Glass creation together today
Mar 23rd (Friday)
Nice hot day today


Complete my latest stained glass piece today. Not completely satisfied with it. My Monutains are not as defined as I had hoped, but for a first try at designing, I guess its not too bad. I did put a zinc frame around it, and that worked out well. I think I will try to enhanse some of the areas in the picture with some glass painting. I'm not an artist either, but will give it a try.

Re-order Anchor Seal today - I thought I had it ordered, but failed to complete the order last weekMar 24th (Saturday)
slightly foggy this AM, but that burns off by 10:00AM  - Then hot at about 90 F
Mar 25th (Sunday)
Another nice warm day


Went down to McAllen and bought some things Denice wanted - scent chips and some books from Barnes & Noble - I stopped at Best Buy and bought some printer cartridges for my printer

Mission, TX - 2nd Week - 3rd Month

Mar 12th ( Monday)
Zilch, I went for some needed groceries
Mar 13th (Tuesday)
Went up the road to Bentsen State Park to do a little more birding. There is one segment of a trail to no where that we had never been on, called Resaca Vieja Trail, and we had heard that the rare Pauraque might be seen there. Don't know what a pauraque is? Well you are not alone. Denice was able to see one in Estaero LLano, another state park, that she went to one day with friend birder Laura. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the pauraque:


This medium-sized nightjar is 8.7-11 in (22–28 cm) long and has two colour morphs, the plumage being variegated greyish-brown or rufous-brown. It is long-tailed and has broad rounded wings. The buff 'eyering' and 'facial stripe' contrast with the reddish sides of the face.[1]

The adult male Pauraque has a white band near the wing tips, and the outer tail feathers are mainly white. The female's wing band is narrower and the white in the outer tail is more restricted. There are seven subspecies of the Pauraque, differing in size and greyness.[1]

The male Pauraque's song is very variable, but includes a whistled weeeow wheeooo, ("who-r-you"), soft puk puk and a whip given in the courtship flight as he flutters around the female. Her call is a rapid succession of whip sounds.

It is found in open woodland/grassland habitats, but also scrubland and crop fields. This species has long legs (by nightjar standards) with bare tarsi, and is more terrestrial than most of its relatives. If disturbed, it will sometimes run rather than fly, and it frequently rests on roads and tracks. In general it prefers mixed habitat which offers densely vegetated hiding places – ideally forest – for the day, as well as open landscape – perhaps even rivers or wetlands – to hunt at night. The Pauraque is nocturnal, like other nightjars, and starts to fly at dusk. Like its relatives, it feeds on insects caught in flight, usually by flycatching from a low perch, but also by foraging over open ground.

How ever we saw none!! In fact few birds today, but we had a good walk. The trail to nowhere ends at a resaca. Oh, you don"t know what a resaca is either! Well wklipedia does not give an English version of the definition, only Spanish, so I will interpet. It is nothing more than an old oxbow left abandoned after the Rio Grande changed course. In days past when the river flooded these resacas would fill with water and retain most of the summer, but now with the control on the Rio they are usually just old dry beds where birds find good habitat. On returning home we took the levee along the river and we find that Sugar Cane harvest is in process. We find this intrigueing to watch the whole sugar cane cycle.
Mar 14th (Wednesday)
To McAllen for more glass - first went to Hobby Lobby, but could not find all that I wanted, so had to do a side trip to McAllen glass. There are so many types and designs that it is slightly mind boggling to find the perfect piece to match your design
Mar 15th (Thursday)
Over to HEB for some groceries. Denice needed some supplies for the "Pot Luck" tonight. Once home I took in a few minutes of the Golf Cart Rodeo. Each contestant had to have a co-pilot, the pilot was blindfolded and had to maneuver his golf cart down a corridor missing pre placed barrels along the way, and ending in the "Kitchen" between two barrels and stopping before running into one in front.  Quite hilarious actually!!
Mar 16th (Friday)
Laundry Day    --- What can I say??
Mar 17th (Saturday)
St Patty's Day - Just chill out all Day - Do a little glass cutting on my new "Self Designed" project
Mar 18th (Sunday)
SKYPE'd the kids - all good on that front

Worked on Stained glass - all pieces cut out for latest project (#6)
Ordered Anchor Seal from Amazon

Mission, TX - 1st Week - 3rd Month

Mar 5th (Monday)
Went to Butterfly Center a couple miles up the road today. After registering at a very nice facility , you take a short walk down a nice shaded lane until you come to an area with lots of flower gardens to attract the butterflies. They tell us that there are more varieties of butterflies here than anywhere else in the USA. To me they sort of all look the same, but there are literally hundreds of varieties of them. Also in conjunction with the butterflys there is a good bird feeding station, with comfortable tables and chairs. We must have spent a couple of hours there just watching the various birds. Most we had seen before, Kiskadees, Green Jays, Orioles, Cardinals, Thrushes, Doves, Chachalacas, plus a bonus of a rare Leucistic Gold Finch and a small Sceech Owl sitting in a football shaped hole in an old tree. To explain the Leucistic Gold Finch. It is somewhat the same as an Albino, but does not have the Red Eyes Albinism is a genetic mutation that prevents the production of melanin in the body, whereas leucism is a genetic mutation that prevents melanin from being deposited normally on feathers. There you have it!!


After a couple of hours there returned home and were treated to a nature event. A water snake, and not a very large one at that, grabbed a small catfish, about an 8 incher, by the nose, and the battle was on. There was no question who was going to win, since once started the snake has no way of releasing the fish, so over the next half hour we watched him just spread his mouth over the poor little guy, just slowly swallowing him whole. We took a lot of pictures, and although it was rather gross, it was Mother Nature just doing what comes naturally.
Mar 6th (Tuesday)
Was going to have a wash / wax job for ELTORO, but the guy that was going to do it was late arriving, and the wind had come up, so finally when he called back we cancelled until a calmer day. A couple of days ago the group who are all next to us invited us to join then at a Bar-B-Que place for group supper. We had accepted, so about 4:00PM we all piled into cars, and headed off th "492 Bar-B-Que for ribs, chicken and what ever else. Ended up there was a total of 30 of us, and we had a great dinner, before returning home for the evening.
Mar 7th (Wednesday)
Went to Selineno, about 60 miles north along the Rio Grande to another bird watching area.  Then from there to Falcon Lake State Park and had a picnic there, then to Roma Bluffs,  The day started at 8:00AM when we headed north. Arrived at Salineno in an hour or so. It is a neat site supported by your donations and The Valley Land Fund.  The site is part of Natioanal Wildlife Refuge System. It has lots of feeders and two couplesvolunteer their time to explain and identify the various birds that feed there. Our thrill of the day was to view a Brown Jay. As far as they know, it is the only one in Texas, and the first one here in the last 5 years. The Jays usual home is in Mexico. In early spring they had an adult as well as a juvenile, but after a few weeks the juvenile disappeared, and now only the adult remains. We also say scads of the usual Kiskadees, Green Jays, Audobon Oreoles, Altimira Oreoles, one hooded Oreole, Cardinals, various kinds of Doves, a spotted Towhee, a Grey Blue Knatcatcher, a Black Headed Grossbeak, two kinds of Thrashers, curved and long billed, a Black Crested Titmouse, and another new one for us, a Pyrrhuloxia. Rather than try to explain that last one it is easier to just add a picture of him.  After spending a couple of hours here we left and headed to Falcon Lake. This is a 60 mile long dammed lake on the Rio. According to all reports it is rather natorious for Mexican Drug Cartel Operations, with a lot of reports of robbings and shootings along the Mexican side of the waters. The US Border Patrol stronly advise you if boating, to stay on the American side of the lake. The two big Patrol Boats that I showed on a previous blog are based here to protect these waters.. There is a nice Texas State Park along the shore and we stopped in a shelter and had our picnic lunch. Once finished lunch we drove down to the dam and went looking for a site identified as site 83 on our birding map. We could not find it and ended up driving up to the American Customs, and asking where site 83 was. As often is the case Denice was interferring with my explanation, and the border guard cut her off, asking what her career choice had been. Denice added that it was to be the "Boss"  or "Nagging Wife". He just laughed, and then I showed him the map blurb about site 83. He read it and stated it was in the center of the dam at the spillway, also at the Mexican / US border point. He suggested we go there and take pictures with one foot in the USA and one in Mexico, but only if no Mexicans guards are there, Then he asked if we had our drivers licence to return to the USA, We stated, we did, Canadian ones, but now we had a problem. US citizens only need a drivers licence, Canadians need their Passport, and as we had not planned on going through a border had not brought ours along. Oh well, I guess another day. These USA Customs guys were really helpful and we enjoyed chatting with them, I think we broke up a very menotinous day for them, we tuened around and headed  back. Next stop was the Roma Bluffs, an overlook area in Roma looking down on the Rio Grande and Mexico across the River. Only stopped here briefly to enjoy the view and take a few photos, and then headed for home. One short stop at a DQ in Rio Grande City for Ice Cream and then home.
Mar 8th (Thursday)
Very strong winds through the night, registering often above 20MPG on my weather station. We got up at about 1:30 and talked about putting the awnings down. Procrastinated until 2 and finally just decided we had better or possible face some damage. It was extremely warm out, even at that time of night, at about 75 F. We had the awnings strapped down well, but even so, thought that they might be damaged. Really only took about 15 minutes to get them stored away. Soon after putting them up we had a gust over 30MPH. I was wide awake now so read for an hour or so before getting tired again and going to bed. While I was up putting ours to rest I walked down the line of motorhomes adjacent to us to see if anyone else was up or needed help to put theirs down, but saw no action. I the morning one on a big motorhome had broken its support arm and was hanging down. I talked to the owner, John and he said at 2:45 a big gust did the trick. That would be the 30MPH one my weather station recorded. Now he has a big bill to repair, that could have been avoided. I have none! For once, I was smart!!


"Pot Luck Supper" tonight. Dennis and Denice were hosts, but only about a dozen people showed up - A lot have left and are starting their trecs northward already, so participation is waning. Also one of the site units was hosting a birthday party for someone. We don't know who. So with only a dozen people we had lots of food, and surprisingly a good variety!
Mar 9th (Friday)
Thunder, rain, and wind overnight, and quite cool this morning at only about 48 F, and only got up to about 52 F during the day. Was warmer at home in High River today!! So with the cold spent the entire day indoors. Denice called it a "House Coat Day". Just read, computed, stitched, ate, etc, etc.
Mar 10th (Saturday)
Another cool night at 44 F this morning, but at least the wind is down.  Little to report for today --
Mar 11th (Sunday)
Denice Birthday

Mission TX - 4th Week - 2nd Month

Feb 27th (Monday)
Started new stained Glass today. Decided on one of a desert scene at sun down. I guess I had really decided on this one a few days ago, and had bought the glass at McAllen Glass, when we were there. So today got out my equipment one more time and started cutting glass. By days end had all the pieces ( 32 of them) rough cut out. Denice was busy with here stitching and enjoying the air conditioner inside.  Much too hot for her outside!
Feb 28th (Tuesday)
Today was a grinding Day!! I mean grinding as in glass, not as in a difficult day. Each of those little pieces of glass needs to be ground to a fairly precision fit with its piece beside it. Seems simple, but remember the one on the other side, the one above, and the one below. It does sometimes create a conundrum of sorts. You grind to fix one and create an imperfection with another. Takes lots of planning and thinking about best way to achieve desired results. Seems it took a good share of the day to get all 32 pieces done. But then for a retired guy the work day is quite short!!!

Denice again doing some stitching. She is working on about five separate pieces, called hardanger. Now I do not really understand what that is but it sure keeps one Denice happy and busy. It involves a whole bunch of different type stitches, and I just watch here nimble fingers pushing a needle and thread through from the top and then reach around and pull through from the bottom, and then find the same right hole from underneath, without looking, to push the needle back up. She never misses a beat, and I don't hear too many, "Oh Damn" exclamations, so she must be good at it. Each of these five pieces are about a foot square, and by the initial showing will be very nice when completed. She showed me a pair of scissors she bought at Harlingen the day were were down there. I knew she had bought a set, but when she showed them to me I thought she had been had!!! $20, and they are only 2 inches long and do not even look like scissors, but I guess this is what it takes to do hardanger!! What can I say? But I know these scissors will be safe as they certainly will not be working their way into yours truly's work chest!!
Feb 29th (Wednesday)Leap Year 29th of Feb. Only once every 4 years!! Sure wish my birthday was today. It would only be my 18th birthday. OOHH to be 18 again!!

Not much to report - worked on my new Stained Glass project. Had to recut a couple of pieces.
Mar 1st (Thursday)
Went to Weslaco audobon birding center. Denice had been there a few days ago with birding friend Laura, and she wanted to go back again to see if she could see a few birds, a couple of warblers that she had not seen, namely gold crowned one. We did see one of them, but unable to get a good picture of it. After leaving there we stopped at Nanna's for lunch. It was a little Mexican Restaurant. We had chulapas, not sure of the spelling, but they were little flat pancack type thingys with a salad type topping. Must admit they were good. 
Mar 2nd (Friday)
Today we went down to Boca Chica Beach. To get there  down Military Highway and back through Brownsville but on the south side of the Brownsville canal. About 20 miles out  the terrain flattens and only scrub bush grows among salt marshes. Soon the sand dunes are visible indicating where the surf has deposited the sands from the bay. Pavement ends here right on a lonly beach. We turn south toward the mouth of the Rio Grande and the Mexican border. It's easy driving along the beach with only an occasional fisherman or people picking up sea shells. After 2 1/2 miles we reach the Rio Grande. Nothing very spectacular there, just a meandering little river entering the Gulf. A few Mexicans are throwing fishing nets into the river to try and catch a few fish, but seems  not a lot of luck. Across the river was a Mexican tower.

Even some drilling out there

Mouth of the Rio Grande

Beach flowers



A beach Beauty



She sells sea shells!!!



On the beach




Close Encounter

 Not sure if it was a light house or a border watch. Seemed to be a lack of broder patrol there, as the Mixicans that were fishing were wading almost to the USA side. Water was only up over their knees, so it was no big deal to just walk over to the USA  side, but I guess thre really was no place to go, as it is wide open with no hiding places. There is only one road, and it does have a check point on the way back to Brownsville. Then we started toward South Padre Island chanel up the beach, but there was abso;utely no oneon this side, the tide was rather high and we had to drive through soft sand, so we only went a couple of miles - less than half way, and decided to turn back. Was getting later in the afternoon anyway, so headed home. Made a short detour to Palmitto Ranch, the site of the last battle in the civil war, 1 month after peace was signed
Mar 3rd (Saturday)
Off to Harlingen today to pick up some stitching supplies Denice had ordered. Left about 10 AM, and it is about a 1 hr drive to Harlington down Highway 35. Highwy 35 is a very nice 6 lane highway all the way with good over passes and turn off lanes every mile or so. A person is able to make very good time on it, even with a speed limit of 65. Denice spent an hour or so in the store while I just shopped around in some discount stores. On the way back we stopped at a Texas Travel Info place for some more maps of the area, especially birding places. Then after that stopped at a favourite lunch place , Olive Garden, but this time in Weslaco. As always, it was very good. How can you beat lunch with all you can eat salad and appetizers for under 20 bucks, including the tip. Thats all we old folks can eat any more for lunch. Then home by 3 PM for a good cup of coffee.
Mar 4th (Sunday)
Sat around most of the day. Went down town for some groceries at HEB

Also stopped at Walmart and bought some movies as we are to the point that we are replaying old ones over and over . We watch a movie almost every night now. I guess its our new thing!! Ended up buying about a dozen new ones. Then went across the highway to HEB for some groceries, then to Home Depot where I bought a couple of new short hoses to connect ELTORO to the water supply. I have been using one of those curly ones (Like a spring) But it seems that in the last few days it has sprung at least 3 pin hole leaks, so I guess its time for a new one. Also bought an electronic bug zapper that is supposed to clear a half acre of flying bugs. In the evenings we are now seeing a lot of mosguitoes. They are relly small, but really hungry!! Also on the list was some ant poison. Lots of little tiny ones around here, not sure if they are fire ants or army ants or what. But they do bite!

Mission TX - 3rd Week - 2nd Month

Feb 20th (Monday)
Went into McAllen to McAllen Glass thismorning for some more stained glass supplies. Framing fir the ones I have almost completed, more glass for a couple in the plnning stage, and some patina to change the color of the solder from silver to copper. Of course it can't just be that simple. You have to buy one kind to change solder to copper, one to change solder to black, one to change the zinc frame to copper, and another to change the zinc frame to black. Then there are three different widths of zinc frames and another frame of copper. Bought a range of all of them. Also needed a mitre box and a hack saw to cut the framing. I'm building up a fair stock of equipment and supplies for this simple hobby. Better not tire of it for a while!!!

Once home added some framing to my completed projects.
Feb 21st (Tuesday)

This morning went to the RV Park Town meeting. They just filled us in on coming activities. Seems as though the winter season is starting to come to a close, as little is planned for after the end of this month, After the meeting we pulled up our chairs to the street running around the park to watch the Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras Parade, All the golf carts in the park were decorated and made one loop around the park. Actually quite good. Then a fair amount of action on the Rio Grande as the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, was here inspecting the border defences. There were up to 6 Border Patrol boats and 3 helicopters making their rounds up and down the Rio, showing the committment and strength of her security in the area.

Feb 22nd (Wednesday)
One of the nicest days we have had here. Temp got up to about 90 F in early afternoon. Was away too hot for Denice, but I sure enjoyed it. In the morning started out at about 75 F and was dead calm. The Rio was like a mirror and stayed that way all day. I worked on stained glass outside a good share of the day and Denice stitched and read inside. She did come out in the evening and we ate out there with the mirror calm Rio as a backdrop.



ELTORO



It just doesn't get any better than that!!!
Feb 23rd (Thursday)
Denice up early and off birding with Laura from down the row a ways - I stay home and do the domestic stuff, at about 2:00PM I take a run into town and pick up a few groceries, and then oner to Home Depot for some chisels and a mallet. I need to remove the bark from the wood turning blanks that I had bought.. When I got home at 4 PM Denice was already there. Tonight there is no pot luck supper, instead there it a free Turkey Soup meal at 5 PM so we went up. It was very good!!
Feb 24th ( Friday)
Rather windy, light rain, but warm at 76  F when we got up at 7 AM. Had planned on going to the South Padre Island Craft Show today, but the weather is really not good. Forecast for South Padre is rain and wind, so will likely wait until tomorrow
Feb 25th (Saturday)
Still a little unsettled to go to Sourh Padre
Feb 26th (Sunday)
South Padre Island today. Its always a pleasure to go there. I love the beach and ocean waves. Left Mission at about 9:00AM this morning and headed east and south along the Military Highway or Highway 281. It goes all the way to Brownville, about 60 miles. A couple of reasons for returning once again to South Padre Island. #1, Denice wanted to go to the Craft fair that is an annual event at the Convention Center, #2 was to see the shore birds at the Birding Center, and #3 was to travel the up the beach a ways. Always enjoy that. It kind of an interesting trip to the Island. After you leave Brownsville, you travel along the canal leading to the Brownsville Port, but a couple hundred yards away. Occasionally you see an ocean going ship steaming along, but from the road it appears that it is just coming through the low bushes as no water is visible. The Port of Brownsville is an interesting place on its own. You would think it should be on the Gulf Coast, but in fact it is 20 or so miles inland, with the only water access by a 200 ft wide canal dredged to 40 ft deep, plus the complete port facilities all dredged to accomadate ocean going boats. A lot of the traffic is connected to the Gulf Oil Industry. Today was no exception. A large Jack Up Oil Platform was in port for some repairs, and it stood out high above the surrounding land.

 At the craft fair, we wandered around through the hundred or so booths and bought a few items that intriqued us. By then it was lunch time so we had to go to Schlitterbaums for all you can eat salad and all you can eat shrimp for 14 bucks, I believe. Money well spent.

 Then to the birding center for a look around and get some pictures of shore birds. Then my favourite, A drive up the beach. Winds had been strong for the last couple of days, and the tides high, so the water was pushing well up onto the beaches. "Men of War" jellyfish were in abundance. The beaches were covered with them.

Drivers, as they drove down the shore line kept running over them, and it was as if you were popping "Bubble Wrap"  Each one as you run over it, gave a very loud "Pop." We only went a few miles and the stopped for a few pictures, and then decided to head home, a two hour trip.

Mission TX - 2nd Week - 2nd Month

Feb 13th (Monday)
Woke up to fog this morning and still cool. Didn't do a whole lot today as we had the appointment for the UltraSound testing at 4:10PM  today. It was a rather simple test and only took about a half hour to complete. Now have to wait 2 weeks for the results. We'll see, what they have to say!!
Feb 14th (Tuesday)
Nice Day today - much warmer - Took a trip to Harlingen, as Denice wanted to go the the needlecraft store there. It about 40 miles away down Expressway 83, a good 6 lane highway with well defined exits all along the way. Was there before 11:00AM, and Denice spent a couple of hours there shopping. I waited in the car for her so that I wouldn't be advising her as to the best thread and material to buy - lol

Now after she returned it was my turn. There is a very good Bass Pro very close to her store so we headed over there. It was just after lunch time, and there just happens to be a "Uncle Buck's Fishbowl & Grill" there, so before we could go shopping, we had to parttake in their culinery charms. Denice chose the Quesadilla Salad and I had the Shrimp Scampi Flatbread. Both were very good and away more than we could eat, so we knew what supper was going to be as well. After eating all we could we wandered around the store for a while. There really was nothing that I was really wanting, but BassPro is just a neat store to visit, what with all the stuffed animals, birds, livestock, fishes, etc.

Their decore is outstanding!! Bought nothing and headed home and were there by 3:00PM
Feb 15th (Wednesday)
Finally nice and warm this morning at 72 F. Never went much below 70 all night

Activity for the Day - Grocery shopping at HEB
And I started work on second stained glass project - this one bigger than the first at about 10" x 17" It is a scene with water and cattails.
Feb 16th (Thursday)
Heavy Rain overnight at times - Light rain as we speak at 9:00AM, but warm at 70 F

By early afternoon temperature rose to 80 F. Overcast all day but very nice
Worked on my Stained Glass piece. Finished cutting out all pieces and grinding each one to a more precision fit with the one beside it. I have learned this is very important to get a quality piece by the end of the day.

While I was slaving away at this Denice was doing some serious stitching and inbetween times cooking up a big frying pan of Kung Poa Orange Chicken for the "Pot Luck" tonight. We sampled before we took it to the supper and it was delicious, and must have been well received as little came home after dinner was over. We do enjoy the Pot Lucks as there is such a choice of dishes and that are all GOOD!! The people that go to these seem like a little different type, from the most others in the park. Attendance to the dinners is quite small, given the large amount of residents here. Usually there are only about 25 to 35 at the dinners, and there is probably around 400 here in the park. A few that we have met are, a couple from Simco Ontario, a couple from Antagonish, Nova Scotia, then tonight we met a couple, Laura and Bill Schutter, who are birders, and they seem really nice, and are from North Eastern Oklahoma, not far from Tulsa.
Feb 17th (Friday)
Too wet outside to work on my stained glass so, as I am only doing the foiling of the individual pieces, I was able to bring them inside and work on them here
Feb 18th (Saturday)
Quite windy today, but warm so worked outside on my latest Stained Glass project. Did all the soldering. It turned out very nice but needs a frame to strengthen the structure. Have to waiy until Monday when McAllen Glass is open.

Late in day made a quick trip up town to buy some oranges and grapefruit from the local vendors. Need to feed the birds! I also enjoy the fruit. As soon as home I had a half of a very large grapefruit. Was it good, or what! Soo juicy and sweet! On the way home had stopped at DQ for a hamburger.
Feb 19th (Sunday)
Nice day today - sometimes hot, sometimes on the cool side. I had finished my latest Stained Glass project so really had nothing to do so decided on a nice easy "Sun Catcher" one. Cut out all the glass and ground it to precision fit. Maybe tomorrow will finish it after we come back from McAllen Glass.

Denice kept busy stitching up a storm

Mission, TX - 1st Week - 2nd Month

Feb 6th (Monday)
Take Denice to the Spa for some more "Maintenance!"  Pedicure and Manicure is the order of the day!  After that hour and a half of pampering she came out with a new look to her fingers and Toes. Women really seem go for this, but me, just give me an hour or so in a "Home Depot, ProBass," or computer store, and I am a "Happy Camper!" And that is exactly how I spent that hour as a Home Depot was just across the street. I wandered up and down the isles just looking at a myriad of things. Of course, once you start looking it's "Murphy's Law" that you are going to find something. And I did!  Another Weather Station! Always have had a "thing" about weather details. I have one at home in High River, but I bought this one for ELTORO, so we know what it really is like outside!  By now Denice was finished at the Spa,

and she wanted some more scrapbooking stuff at Michaels so motored over there, a few miles east to McAllen. Found her stuff and a glass container for me. Thats a container for my extra colored glass associated with my Stained glass hobby, not a glass container. Now once out of the door, what was just across the road, but a Applebee's Restaurant. And it was just after noon. Lunch was good with a Oriental Grilled Chicken Salad for Denice and Chicken Fetticini Carbanara for me with a White Queso Dip and Nachos as an appy for the two of us, all for 20 bucks. Not a bad deal! Once home I put my weather station together and mounted the outside terminal on a heavy piece of 2" x 12" planking and placed on the roof of ELTORO. That way I can just take it down when we move without a whole bunch of hassle.  Hooked it up and it WORKED. Almost amazing that something did not need modifying or changing.
Feb 7th (Tuesday)
Park meeting this AM. Very well attended with over 100 residents there. Probably due to the wet conditions out side that curtailed a lot of other outdoor activities. A couple of presentations from activity committees that led to quite a bit of discussion. As this was our first introduction to the meeting scenerio we just listened. Oh yes, speaking of introductions, The Park Manager did ask us to stand and introduced us to the group. We were, it seemed, the only ones there that were completely new to the Park. As I have said before, "all the residents here are multi year ones"

One other presentation was from a fellow with Integra Wellness. We listened and it seemed like a good deal so we made an appointment with him for Monday, They will do:
1. Stroke/Carotid Artery Test by ultrasound that will visualize any buildup of fatty plaque, the number one cause of stroke
2. Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Test by ultrasound for any enlargement of the Aorta
3. Peripheral Arterial Disease Test to test for any blockages in the legs
And all for 90 bucks! Seemed like good deal so we went for it. I'm not sure that my doctor, when I get home in the spring, might not do the same thing under our free medical, but just decided it would be nice to give this a try. They also will do a Bone Density Test for 10 bucks but we think we did not need it. Denice has already had this done a couple of times before.
Feb 8th (Wednesday)
Rainy and wet this morning - Rained all night, at times quite heavy, and still raining!
Therefore to acivity of the day was mostly limited to computing and reading
Did run into HEB for a few more groceries. Needed some suff for tomorrow nights Pot Luck Supper
Feb 9th (Thursday)
Still wet and rainy - and cool at only a little above 60 F. Tonight is Pot Luck again so Denice cooking a very large crock pot of Swiss Steak, and Pasta. Now not ordinary Swiss Steak, my wife needs to Jazz that up a bit so how about "Italian Swiss Steak"??  She adds some Chorizo sausage plus a lot of other Italian seasoning. Different but as always very good!! Sure went over well at the Pot Luck anyway. Only a little sauce and one helping of pasta came home.
Feb 10th (Friday)
And still another dreary day although little rain, but heavy overcast and uncomfortably cool, with a high of only about 62° F. Again, too cold to much outside, so read some more from my Kindle. Decided in late afternoon to go to McAllen to a restaurant that had been recommended to us. It is a Chinese one called P.F. Chang's. We went about 4:00PM to be before the dinner time rush. We had a 4 course dinner for two. Start with 2 choices of soup, then  a choice of an appy, 2 entre's, and a choice of desert. We had egg drop soup, Salt and Peppar Calamari, Kung Poa Shrimp, Ginger Chicken and Broccoli, and then for desert a Banana Spring Roll. It was a banna deep fried and cut in sections around a large scoop of Pineapple/ Coconut Ice Cream and all covered with a variety of fresh fruit, Strawberries, Raspberries, and Blueberries!! MMMMMM!!! Couldn't begin to eat it all our dinner, other than the desert, so guess whats on the menu for tomorrow?
Feb 11th (Saturday)
Nothing to report today - Cold and Wet again - Cold is relative - Cold in Alberta at O° F is Cold - Here at 50° F is cold - everybody wearing heavy coats and touques. An inside Day!!
Feb 12th (Sunday)
AGAIN cool and wet, but the weatherman is giving some hope - Tonight at near midnight the temperature is supposed to start rising and continue until noon tomorrow at 70°F and Tuesday at 81°F. About Time!!

Mission, Tx - 4th Week - 1st Month

Jan 30th - (Monday)
Light Rain and 65° F this morning so likely not do too much today


Rainy day so Denice says it's good for baking. I do cinnamon buns!!! Don't believe me do you??? Well I did!! But I must admit they were easy. You know Pilsbury. The ones that pop from the can!!! Still they turned out excellent and were delicious. Then while the Rival oven was hot Denice made biscuits so we could have sausage gravey and biscuits for breakfast tomorrow morning. Getting pretty domesticated around here !!!
Jan 31st (Tuesday)
Nothing to report in the AM, but after lunch took a short drive down to Anzalduas Park, a couple of miles from here. It is a rather nice, big treed oark right on the Rio Grande. It is between the river and the levy, so, like our Chimney Park is vulnerable to high waters. The park is immediatly upstream from the Alzulduas Dam that back water back to where we are. The Park being inside the lowlands is also the start of a flood water system, that during times of very high water can divert water away from the river and protect urban developments close by. It must cover a hundred acres or more and has lots of pinic tables under big live oak trees and well manicured grass.. We cicled to outside parimeter a couple of times slowly, giving Denice lots of time to watch the birds that are there. Then we left and as we needed some oranges for out birds. Drove up Shary Road to mile 7, north of Interstate 83, until we found a road side vendor. Paid $5 for a big bag of juice orangs. then started to circle back to Conway and home. Some how screwed up and missed Conway (We are just off Conway) and got onto Inspiration. A bit of a round-about way home, but it still worked out OK. Just a nice drive!!   
Feb 1st (Wednesday)
Back to the Stained Glass project, only with the real colored stuff today. Traced out the pattern on the various pieces of colored glass to make the design. Then came the cutting.  OOOPS slipped and broke another piece, by not where its supposed to break. Need some more practice with the cutting. With my broken throw away pieces do some test cuts- some reading about proper technique, then try again. There "that works better." Agin trace my pattern and start over. Much better success this time. Able to cut out all the pieces that I have glass for. Found I need just a couple more small pieces of a different color' so tomorrow will have to make a return trip. likely to Hobby Lobby as it is the closest source, and they seem to have fairly large selection of colored glass. Until I started this hobby, I had no idea how many different designs and colors of glass there is!!
Feb 2nd (Thursday)
Over to Hobby Lobby for some more glass. I just needed a couple of small pieces to be able to complete my first project, but what-the-heck, might just as well get enough for the next project. Maybe getting a little ahead of myself, but we'll see! Once home set up my equipment and fine tuned all the individual pieces I had cut out. I know now that grinding them to a near perfect fit is crucial for a good project.
While Denice was over at the laundermat today Rosemary, our next door neighbor came by to invite us to a small "Get Together" they are having tomorrow night. Some small snack to share would be most welcome.
Feb 3rd (Friday)
Lets see, what happened today?  Went into town  and bought a few things we needed for tonights "get together" a couple of doors  away. Denice is making some type of hors d'oeuvres using sausage in a sweet sauce. While over there she went to the spa for a little uplift- oops better re-phrase that, not uplift, but just maintenance. Then home to let her prepare the goodies while I read. My book, _______ got real interesting so read most of the day until I finished it. So much for the day!!  Went to the "get together" or "Happy Hour" about 4:30. Seemed all the neighbors there, about 10 couples. I guess over time we will get to know them all, but for now difficult to remember all the names, Rosemary and Bill, Ruth and Bob Anderson from Lincoln Nebraska,  Chris and Jeff from Manitoba,Sheila and Bill from Ohio, and _______ and _______ and ________. I'll fill the blanks later. Just a senior thing! Names! Remember!! Not good! Anyway had a great evening with lots of food. Returned home just after dark at about 7:30PM. Then Denice and I went for a walk around the park to get our exercise for the day.

 Feb 4th (Saturday)
Started out very nice warm and calm this morning, but at about 1:00PM a cold northern front moved in. Can't be an "Alberta Clipper" can it? Temperature dropped from 87°F to 72° F in about an hour and wind picked up to about 15MPH from the North. Blew hard for an hour or so and then eased off some, but now quite cool at 67° F at 3:30PM
Feb 5th (Sunday)
Rain all night and quite cool this morning at only 49° F. Did little except read and compute for the day. Skyped Kids back home. All good on that front!!

Mission TX, 3rd Week - 1st Month

Jan 23rd ( Monday)
This morning we needed to do some shopping. We had a few things on the grocery list, Denice needed that "Oval Cutter"from Michaels for here scrapbooking and we needed some more food for those throngs of birds(Mostly black birds) that we are attracting. They sure seem to eat a lot!! So off to HEB and buy the few things on the LIst. We had a $100 worth of goodies,I'm sure, before we ever started on the "List"
Super HEB is a great store here in Mission. There is also another one, of many in the area, not too far away, but it does not seem to be as clean and organized as well as this one. Once out of ther down to McAllen and buy Denices "Oval Cutter" as well as a few other things. Yep, just a few I might add, then back home and put everything away. Now its's starting to get more and more difficult to find homes for all these "necessities" we are buying, But Denice is a master at re-organizing shelves, cupboards, fridges, and freezer compartments. I kid you not, when you open our freezer compartment you would swear it was one big block of meat, but she has it like a jig saw puzzle. Each package fits perfectly with the one beside it. Not a bit of space left. And I thought the Egyptians were good at arranging the blocks on the pyramids!!!

Once everything stored away, it was now time for me to return to my stained glass project. Get all my paraphanelia out of the compartment and lay it out on my table one more time. The order of the day today is to copper foil all those pieces of glass.



Getting Prepared




Tools of the Trade




The "Foiler"  at the bottom




The Grinder



The Glass ready to Solder - I Think!!


Jan 24th (Tuesday)
Some excitement today around here. Friend Tom, from Warner had sent me an email a few days ago showing a new boat the Texas Hiway Patrol had built for use on Falcon Lake for Mexican deterrant. Here are some of the specs of it:

New 36 ft. Patrol/Gunboat powered by three 300HP mercs
armaments include 5 - static mounted [2 dual & 1 single] FN M240B 7.62×51 mm NATO
Light machineguns, 2 - Barrett .50 BMG Sniper Rifles, and other assorted
5.56 rifles, 9mm sub machineguns, and grenade launchers.!
Tom had asked if the boat was near where we are, and I responded that no it was not here but Falcon Lake is only about 60 miles away as the crow flies. Well Guess what, this afternoon what shows up but, not one but two of the subject boats. They were launched into the Rio Grande for what I am sure was a test run. They cruised around for a couple of hours, mostly testing the engines and manuverability. No not the guns !!! They did give one pass at a much higher rate of speed, likely in the neighborhood of 50 mph, but I think those big engines were still only at half throttle. They did create a tsunami wave the washed right over our cock and drenched a couple of our local fishermen
But what a sight!!! What Boats!!! Great photo opportunity and I got many shots. Even a great video of them screaming by!

Check out that fire Power

Not to be challenged

Some Power eh!!

And they are off

Back up Support

Check out those Bullets - Don't think they are blanks!!

Now this did not totally detract from my Stained Glass project. Today was soldering day, and if I do say so myself, did fairly well. Was able to complete soldering both sides of the project. It was not without a learning curve of the best way to do this. I had already done a fair amount of reading to learn the best and proper way to proceed, so it just took some fine tuning until I was soldering like a pro! Well. sort of! Certainly learned some of the things of importance to produce a quality project. There is no better teacher than mistakes! A few of these were:
- ensure all foil covered with just enough flux, not too much, not too little
- Cutting precision pieces of glass the fit together with a minimum of space between them is very important
- Foiling need to be accurate with equal amounts of copper folded over each side of the glass
- Need to initially solder each individual piece temorarilly together with a drop of solder before starting the real soldering program
- The soldering iron does not need to touch the copper foil to produce a copper bead on top of it
- fine finishing can be produced by going over the entire project and remelting the solder already placed there. This can be accomplished by just gently touching the solder and keep moving along to keep a melted bead behind the iron.
End of the day a fairly good representation of the sail boat I was working on, except this was only with clear glass
Now the real test with colored glass, Maybe tomorrow??



Another GREAT Sunset!




The "Chimney" at Chimney RV Park

 Jan 25th (Wednesday)
Nope, never got back to the stained glass at all today. Last night was a windy night all night long. I had used those tools I spoke of a few days ago, and had added more grommets along the bottom of the awning skirt, and bungeed it down better, but all night long just kept hearing tho flop flop of the awning and envisioning having it torn off. Both of us were up at about 2:00AM and talked about going out and taking the awning in, but now its quite a large deal with all the tie downs we have. AND we would have to get dressed to do it. Don't think it proper to be out in the wind with nothing but a house coat on, in 20MPH winds. I know we are seniors, but REALLY!! Anyway we wandered around a while and finally deicided to go back to bed and see what happens. Guess we must have gone back to sleep, and when we awoke again some time near 400AM the wind was calm.
Just a note about staying in one of these parks were most of the RV'ers are long term: We originally had some concerns about staying in one place for 3 months as we have never done that before, and we have never stayed in a park that catered as much as some of these do to the long term residents. We are still unsure if this is for us!! Most of the people around us have been coming back here year after year for 5, 7, 10, or 20 years. This makes them all friends and any newcomers (US) are sort of out siders. Seems that a lot of them get just a little cliguey, and although maybe not unfriendly, do not go, in any way to be friendly, to us. Not really a big deal to us as we would just as soon travel around, just the two of us, and see whatever there is to see in the area, but already we are soul searching to see if this is our niche. Need to give it more time to see!
The big Highway Patrol boat returned to here again this aft and had a helicopter and TV crew filming what they tell me is to be a PR video for them. Only a single one of the big boats was here, but together with 2 of the smaller ones made many trips up and down the Rio Grande, with the helicopter circling overhead. There was lots of photo ops, and I took advantage of a lot of them, but how many pictures can you take of the same boat at different angles, going and coming, fast and slow. etc, etc. Someting like Denice and her birds. Not just a good picture of each species, but a shot of evey individual. Well, what can I say? I have a hundred pictures of the same boat in an assortment of different positions, and kept looking for more opportunities. But it did keep me busy all afternoon, so never got to the stained glass again.
Jan 26th (Thursday)
Today is Thursday and "Pot Luck" Supper tonight. At the last grocery shopping day at HEB we bought a ham with a big bone in it. Funny how they can camoflage that great big bone in a little ham with no part of the bone showing and just a minimum amount of meat surrounding it, but in this case it was what Denice wanted as she is making Beans and Johnny cake to take to this supper. Well the bone went in the pan to boil on the stove for a couple of hours first thing in the morning. Then about 11:00AM the broth from it, along with a plentiful amount of white beans, and a whole bunch of other ingredients, that I am unsure of all went into the crock pot and simmered away the rest of the day. Late afternoon came the making of the Johnny Cake. First batch was a mix. Flopped!!! Once baked was rather thin and not quite the taste that the chef was after. Next batch, Oh shit, need canola oil instead of olive oil. Dennis the gopher off to HEB to buy. Then home. No more than sitting down and Oh Shit! again. We have no baking powder. Gopher back to HEB again, And back. Batch a success this time, and now it is time to take all to the rec room for the gathering. Another Great meal with many, many choices. Johnny Cake and Beans seemed a real favorite, at least very little came home.
Jan 27th (Friday)
After a healthy breakfast this morning we took off and drove to Estero Llano Grande State Park to see more birds. Spent several hours there wandering around through the park that has a tropical area, a wetlands zone, Butterfly gardens and Alligator pond.



Really have not seen too many of these guys yet




This bird falls under the "Not Sure" catagory




Pretty Flowers Too




And  another Green Jay




Old Woody!




View of one of the Ponds




Looks bored doesn't he?




Couches King-bird





Some sort of a "Shoveler." Not to be confused with Roseate Spoonbill!




And there was this butterfly"Brown Longtail"



Another of the Ponds

Just standing here thinking about "Goin' Fishin"



"Holy Shit" didn't mean to scare ya!




Anyone for Turtle Soup?




OOHHH  Big stretch!

 We did see some new birds that we hadn't seen before, but we powered out before we were able to take in the Alligator pond. It is quite a long walk and it was rather warm. We did not take a picnic lunch, so a trip to the Olive Garden in McAllen seemed to take presidence about 2:00PM. From previous experience we have learned what is best to order, at least for us. We have the "Choose Your Own Sampler 3" appetizer. We have Calamari, Stuffed Mushrooms and Chicken Fingers. Then the "all you can eat" salad and a soft drink. It is "All we can eat." We have tried an Entre as well or the soup and salad, but we are never able to eat it all and most of it goes home with us. But what we had today was more than adequate, and all for less than $20 bucks. The Salad is Free!!!


Then on the way home stopped off at Hobby Lobby. I needed a set of "Running Pliers" for my stained glass project. You use the Running Pliers to chase the crack along the glass cutter scored line, as it has a concave set of pinchers on the end that put pressure on the exact score point. I was able to find them here, as well as a "Fid" and a set of safety goggles. Don't be shy, a "FID???" Yes that is what it is called. It's no more than a small plastic pressing, smoothing tool for the copper foil, but I needed one. Funny thing, when I go to Home Depot, Denice never want to accompany me into the store. She would just rather sit in the jeep and read until I come back, but at Hobby Lobby, she is out in a flash and about tramples me,to get to the store. Once inside she goes her way, I go mine, but when we meet at the till she always seems to have her hands full. Usually I can pass my stuff to her for her to pay, but today that back-fired and I had to foot the bill.

Then returned home.
Jan 28th (Saturday)
All of a sudden lots of birds at our bird feeders. First time we have had the Orioles there.Today two of them kept coming back to feed on the oranges we have out. At one time we had Green Jays, many Kiskadees, Golden Fronted Wood Peckers, three differnt kinds of Doves, a Titmouse, Mockingbird, and a thousand Blackbirds. Lots more photos!!!


A few days back I had been searching the area on the web looking for a possible source of Texas Ebony and Mesquite wood for my "Turning" hobby. I came across a man by the name of Gerardo Garcia who sells on Ebay and the good news is that he lives right here in Mission. I sent him and email asking if I could buy direct from him and he immediately responded affirmative. I said I would come by and see what wood he had, so he gave me his location in town, so today had made an appointment to drop by at about 1:30PM. We easily found his address and he was out in his yard cuttingup various pieces of wood he had salvaged from different plces in the area. He was very accomadating and he has lots of wood. Some cut in various lengths, widths, and depths of planks. from mesquite and Texas Ebony as well as some others I was not familiar with. We wandered around his full yard of collected pieces and finally chose 1 plank of each species about 4 ft long and 12 inches wide x 3 to 4 inches deep. Enough to make some great bowls!! His charge was really quite reasonable, I thought. The ones I had chosen were already advertised on Ebay, so I agreed to pay that price. He had said his price was negotiable, but I thought I was getting a good deal so did not quibble. In the end he threw in a couple of smaller pieces of Texas Ebony, another Mesquite and a piece of Huisache. Huisache is a smaller tree seldom getting a trunk more than 6 inches in diameter, but the wood has a nice pink coloring. Should make an interesting bowl! Now all I have to do is get them back to Alberta. At the border: "To claim or not to claim" that is the question.

On our way over to Gerardo's we were traveling up Conway, and noticed all the side roads shut off. It was then that we remembered today was the "Citrus Fiesta" Parade. We contimplated stopping along the way some where and waiting for it to come by, but since we had a 1:30PM appointment decided we should just continue on. We made our purchases, and headed back only to find the parade had not started yet, so we found a place to park and walked a half block to the parade route. We were there by about 2:00PM. Then we waited, and waited, and waited. When we first arrived, few people were in the immediate viciniity, but as the day wore on, more and more showed up.



Looking north along Conway




Looking south along Conway

 All were of Mexican desent, and spoke little English. Street Vendors were selling all kinds of Mexican food, and since we had had no lunch we did indulge. Nacho's in cheese, a cob of corn with mayo spread, then chili sauce and sea salt (Different, but good ) and a Texas Bar-B-Que bun.



Street Vendors



Another Vendor

Beef On-a-Bun

 Finally some people came along that spoke English, so we asked when the parde would start. They advised 4:00PM!! So we waited some more and near 5:00PM it became a reality. It was good, but I'm not sure why so late in the day.

Finally, here it comes



Lots of Floats - all with a citrus theme




And Pretty Girls



Each Representing some citrus type



Military was well represented as well



And More Girls



And Floats

 

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And Another




And Another


We watched and took pictures until it got too dark near 6:00PM, and we elected to get on the move before 100,000 people had the same idea. We did some circling around to try to find our way home on an open route, but made it without incident. Glad to be home.
Jan 29th (Sunday)
Over  to Walmart and HEB for a few things and some bird food to keep our feathered friends happy