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Knee follow-up

  We take this knee issue to be a torn meniscus.  It happened before, a few years ago, so it is familiar.  It feels like an emergency.  The doctors here don’t see it that way though.  Judy’s knee is only painful, not life-threatening.  This area is filled with Winter Texans.  Maybe the doctors are too busy replacing hips and knees to do a little arthroscopic surgery.   Judy kept after it.  Finally, this afternoon, one of the doctors relented and we have an appointment for tomorrow morning.    
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January bird list

Our January bird list. A good month. 168 Birds. Always glad to get the Wood Duck. The Yellow-Billed Loon, Northern Jacana, and Northern Wheatear are rare for Texas. The Northern Gannets are spectacular circling high offshore and firing into the water like giant spears. Audubon’s Orioles; a South Texas specialty.

1 Black-bellied Whistling-Duck Sandia
2 Greater White-fronted Goose Sandia
3 Snow Goose Interstate 37
4 Ross’s Goose Sandia
5 Wood Duck choke canyon to canyon lake landa park loop
6 Gadwall gulf waters
7 American Wigeon Sandia
8 Mallard choke canyon to canyon lake landa park loop
9 Mottled Duck Sandia
10 Blue-winged Teal gulf waters
11 Cinnamon Teal birding center
12 Northern Shoveler gulf waters
13 Northern Pintail gulf waters
14 Green-winged Teal birding center
15 Canvasback choke canyon state park
16 Redhead mustang island
17 Ring-necked Duck choke canyon state park
18 Lesser Scaup three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
19 Bufflehead packery channel
20 Red-breasted Merganser three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
21 Ruddy Duck birding center
22 Wild Turkey choke canyon state park
23 Common Loon conn brown harbor
24 Yellow-billed Loon choke canyon to canyon lake landa park loop
25 Least Grebe birding center
26 Pied-billed Grebe gulf waters
27 Horned Grebe conn brown harbor area, intracoastal waterway
28 Eared Grebe jetty beach
29 Northern Gannet national seashore
30 American White Pelican gulf waters
31 Brown Pelican gulf waters
32 Neotropic Cormorant lake corpus christi
33 Double-crested Cormorant gulf waters
34 Anhinga Sandia
35 Great Blue Heron gulf waters
36 Great Egret gulf waters
37 Snowy Egret gulf waters
38 Little Blue Heron oso bay
39 Tricolored Heron gulf waters
40 Reddish Egret gulf waters
41 Cattle Egret three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
42 Black-crowned Night-Heron birding center
43 Yellow-crowned Night-Heron packery channel
44 White Ibis birding center
45 Roseate Spoonbill mustang island
46 Black Vulture lake corpus christi
47 Turkey Vulture gulf waters
48 Osprey lake corpus christi
49 White-tailed Kite three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
50 Northern Harrier national seashore
51 Sharp-shinned Hawk three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
52 Cooper’s Hawk port Aransas
53 Harris’s Hawk three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
54 Red-shouldered Hawk Interstate 37
55 White-tailed Hawk mustang island
56 Red-tailed Hawk Interstate 37
57 Crested Caracara gulf waters
58 American Kestrel national seashore
59 Merlin birding center
60 Peregrine Falcon three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
61 Clapper Rail birding center
62 Sora birding center
63 Common Moorhen birding center
64 American Coot gulf waters
65 Sandhill Crane Interstate 37
66 Black-bellied Plover national seashore
67 Piping Plover mustang island beach
68 Killdeer Sandia
69 Black-necked Stilt birding center
70 American Avocet Sandia
71 Northern Jacana three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
72 Spotted Sandpiper choke canyon state park
73 Greater Yellowlegs gulf waters
74 Willet national seashore
75 Lesser Yellowlegs gulf waters
76 Long-billed Curlew national seashore
77 Marbled Godwit packery channel
78 Ruddy Turnstone national seashore
79 Sanderling national seashore
80 Least Sandpiper Sandia
81 Dunlin packery channel
82 Stilt Sandpiper Sandia
83 Long-billed Dowitcher birding center
84 Bonaparte’s Gull Jetty
85 Laughing Gull gulf waters
86 Ring-billed Gull birding center
87 Herring Gull national seashore
88 Caspian Tern birding center
89 Forster’s Tern national seashore
90 Royal Tern national seashore
91 Sandwich Tern mcgee county park beach
92 Black Skimmer national seashore
93 Rock Pigeon orange grove
94 Eurasian Collared-Dove Sandia
95 White-winged Dove orange grove
96 Mourning Dove gulf waters
97 Inca Dove goose island state park
98 Common Ground-Dove three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
99 Monk Parakeet orange grove
100 Greater Roadrunner choke canyon state park
101 Eastern Screech-Owl choke canyon to canyon lake landa park loop
102 Great Horned Owl choke canyon state park
103 Short-eared Owl mustang island. judy
104 Buff-bellied Hummingbird goose island state park
105 Black-chinned Hummingbird goose island state park
106 Belted Kingfisher hog island
107 Golden-fronted Woodpecker Sandia
108 Ladder-backed Woodpecker orange grove
109 Eastern Phoebe Beeville
110 Vermilion Flycatcher Sandia
111 Couch’s Kingbird lake corpus christi
112 Loggerhead Shrike gulf waters
113 White-eyed Vireo three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
114 Blue-headed Vireo Blucher
115 Green Jay three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
116 Chihuahuan Raven choke canyon to canyon lake landa park loop
117 Horned Lark charlie’s pasture
118 Northern Rough-winged Swallow choke canyon state park
119 Barn Swallow choke canyon to canyon lake landa park loop
120 Tufted Titmouse choke canyon state park
121 Black-crested Titmouse goose island state park
122 Verdin choke canyon state park
123 Cactus Wren three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
124 Carolina Wren lake corpus christi
125 Bewick’s Wren three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
126 House Wren lake corpus christi
127 Ruby-crowned Kinglet lake corpus christi
128 Blue-gray Gnatcatcher lake corpus christi
129 Northern Wheatear Beeville
130 American Robin paradise pond
131 Northern Mockingbird gulf waters
132 Long-billed Thrasher three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
133 Curve-billed Thrasher three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
134 European Starling birding center
135 American Pipit lake corpus christi
136 Sprague’s Pipit three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
137 Orange-crowned Warbler birding center
138 Yellow-rumped Warbler birding center
139 Pine Warbler goose island state park
140 Palm Warbler birding center
141 Black-and-white Warbler three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
142 Common Yellowthroat three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
143 Olive Sparrow three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
144 Green-tailed Towhee three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
145 Cassin’s Sparrow three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
146 Chipping Sparrow choke canyon to canyon lake landa park loop
147 Clay-colored Sparrow sandia
148 Field Sparrow three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
149 Vesper Sparrow three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
150 Lark Sparrow three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
151 Black-throated Sparrow three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
152 Lark Bunting three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
153 Savannah Sparrow gulf waters
154 Grasshopper Sparrow three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
155 Lincoln‘s Sparrow sandia
156 Swamp Sparrow choke canyon state park
157 White-crowned Sparrow three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
158 Northern Cardinal goose island state park
159 Pyrrhuloxia three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
160 Red-winged Blackbird birding center
161 Eastern Meadowlark Interstate 37
162 Western Meadowlark three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
163 Brewer’s Blackbird three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
164 Great-tailed Grackle gulf waters
165 Brown-headed Cowbird gulf waters
166 Audubon’s Oriole three rivers to choke canyons state park trip with jon
167 American Goldfinch goose island state park
168 House Sparrow orange grove

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Judy’s knee

  Small motion.  Big problem.  Judy made one little twisting motion and blew out her knee.  Didn’t get much out of four hours at the emergency room today.  No treatment.  No access to an orthopedist yet.  Best we’ve been able to do is early March for an appointment so far.  We’ll try again tomorrow.    
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Our salt air at the beach is tough on outside equipment

We got the television satellite dish new last January. The chain that drives the dish up and down rusted through and broke while we were in Florida last October so we had it replaced. Now the dish needs a new skew motor and sensor. Until we get that fixed, each time we move the coach, I have to go up on the roof and point the dish by compass and guesswork until I stumble upon a signal, then lock it in place.
Not just anyone can work on these Motosat satellite dishes. We have two choices in South Texas. There is one guy north of Houston and a guy in San Antonio. So far we’ve used the Houston guy. We don’t want to go to Houston again yet, so we decided to try the guy in San Antonio. When we called to arrange a visit, we found out he was actually down south in Harlingen for a few months, so here we are, in a giant RV Park in Harlingen, getting our skew motor fixed.
Here is another Wood Duck picture from Saturday.