Remember my story about talking to the surgeon just before I went back into the Cath Lab? I asked him to not only save me, but to make me better than I was before. He did. He put in a couple new stents, and he also opened up that collateral artery that had been blocked off by a stent the first time around. I have better endurance now. If I’m slow and careful, I can run a few comfortable miles on the beach; no chest pain. Sea level. No shoes. It works. It works well enough that I’ve started checking my measured mile times. At first I was barely breaking 20 minutes. Now, though, I’ve broken through the 10 minute barrier. That’s not my long-distance I-could-do-this-all-day pace, just my one mile speed, but my last timed mile was 9:40. That’s actually running, not just shuffling along! I have my energy back!
More fish pictures
A 48 pound Ling.
And a 42” Redfish.
Happy anniversary to us
Six years on the road. This morning we start on number seven’s adventures.
We unhooked the motorhome from our site and drove it to Aransas Pass for a new windshield. The old windshield took a rock in Oklahoma on the way down.
Aransas Pass Glass.
A truck, a ladder, and four guys who know what they’re doing.
They almost make it look easy.
All done in half an hour. A new Imax for us.
Casey and Laurie are here visiting from Durango. Fish and chips on the deck at Snoopy’s. Ice cream at Scoopy’s next door. It’s all good.
Happy Halloween!
Birding
Nothing like being back in South Texas to fill out a bird list. Last month, one state, 85 birds. The month before, 6 states, 107 birds. This month, 3 states (but only 1 day for Colorado and Oklahoma), and 158 birds. The October bird list:
| Black-bellied Whistling-Duck |
| Snow Goose |
| Canada Goose |
| Gadwall |
| Mallard |
| Mottled Duck |
| Blue-winged Teal |
| Northern Shoveler |
| Northern Pintail |
| Green-winged Teal |
| Redhead |
| Ruddy Duck |
| Ring-necked Pheasant |
| Pied-billed Grebe |
| American White Pelican |
| Brown Pelican |
| Neotropic Cormorant |
| Double-crested Cormorant |
| Anhinga |
| Great Blue Heron |
| Great Egret |
| Snowy Egret |
| Little Blue Heron |
| Tricolored Heron |
| Reddish Egret |
| Cattle Egret |
| Black-crowned Night-Heron |
| White Ibis |
| White-faced Ibis |
| Roseate Spoonbill |
| Wood Stork |
| Black Vulture |
| Turkey Vulture |
| Osprey |
| Bald Eagle |
| Northern Harrier |
| Cooper’s Hawk |
| Red-shouldered Hawk |
| Swainson’s Hawk |
| White-tailed Hawk |
| Red-tailed Hawk |
| Golden Eagle |
| Crested Caracara |
| American Kestrel |
| Merlin |
| Peregrine Falcon |
| Clapper Rail |
| Sora |
| Common Moorhen |
| American Coot |
| Sandhill Crane |
| Whooping Crane |
| Black-bellied Plover |
| Snowy Plover |
| Semipalmated Plover |
| Piping Plover |
| Killdeer |
| American Oystercatcher |
| Black-necked Stilt |
| American Avocet |
| Greater Yellowlegs |
| Willet |
| Lesser Yellowlegs |
| Long-billed Curlew |
| Marbled Godwit |
| Ruddy Turnstone |
| Red Knot |
| Sanderling |
| Least Sandpiper |
| Dunlin |
| Stilt Sandpiper |
| Long-billed Dowitcher |
| Wilson’s Snipe |
| Laughing Gull |
| Franklin’s Gull |
| Ring-billed Gull |
| Herring Gull |
| Gull-billed Tern |
| Caspian Tern |
| Black Tern |
| Common Tern |
| Forster’s Tern |
| Royal Tern |
| Sandwich Tern |
| Black Skimmer |
| Rock Pigeon |
| Eurasian Collared-Dove |
| White-winged Dove |
| Mourning Dove |
| Inca Dove |
| Common Ground-Dove |
| Great Horned Owl |
| Burrowing Owl |
| Common Nighthawk |
| Ruby-throated Hummingbird |
| Belted Kingfisher |
| Golden-fronted Woodpecker |
| Red-bellied Woodpecker |
| Northern Flicker |
| Eastern Wood-Pewee |
| Eastern Phoebe |
| Say’s Phoebe |
| Vermilion Flycatcher |
| Great Kiskadee |
| Couch’s Kingbird |
| Scissor-tailed Flycatcher |
| Loggerhead Shrike |
| White-eyed Vireo |
| Blue Jay |
| American Crow |
| Common Raven |
| Horned Lark |
| Tree Swallow |
| Northern Rough-winged Swallow |
| Cave Swallow |
| Barn Swallow |
| Brown Creeper |
| Cactus Wren |
| Carolina Wren |
| House Wren |
| Marsh Wren |
| Golden-crowned Kinglet |
| Ruby-crowned Kinglet |
| Swainson’s Thrush |
| American Robin |
| Gray Catbird |
| Northern Mockingbird |
| European Starling |
| Sprague’s Pipit |
| Orange-crowned Warbler |
| Nashville Warbler |
| Northern Parula |
| Yellow-rumped Warbler |
| Black-throated Green Warbler |
| Yellow-throated Warbler |
| Pine Warbler |
| Palm Warbler |
| Black-and-white Warbler |
| American Redstart |
| Common Yellowthroat |
| Wilson’s Warbler |
| Summer Tanager |
| Savannah Sparrow |
| White-crowned Sparrow |
| Northern Cardinal |
| Indigo Bunting |
| Dickcissel |
| Red-winged Blackbird |
| Eastern Meadowlark |
| Western Meadowlark |
| Brewer’s Blackbird |
| Common Grackle |
| Boat-tailed Grackle |
| Great-tailed Grackle |
| Bronzed Cowbird |
| Brown-headed Cowbird |
| Orchard Oriole |
| House Sparrow |