Author: Steve

And Mrs. Cardinal

He looks like another clump of sand, but there is a giveaway.

That menacing claw.  It looks big on him, but the entire crab is maybe 2 inches wide, so it’s not too scary.

Noticed while walking through a South Texas industrial area, packed with small businesses building and repairing things.

The sign read:

Dirty hands.

Clean money.

It doesn’t exactly describe the life of an accountant, but we recognize and admire the sentiment.

But there are plenty of them at the Birding and Nature Center on South Padre Island.  They’re a rescue center for alligators that cause trouble with people.  The problem lies mostly with the people, not the gators.  If a gator gets fed, it learns from that experience and becomes a “nuisance” and has to be removed.  Or maybe it shows up on a dock or in a swimming pool.

There are small ones in tanks.

To larger ones in ponds.

All the way up to Big Padre.

Twelve feet of gator!

Freshened up our camping meals on the road.

We pack a little Coleman stove and a nonstick pan.  Judy has upped our camping dinner game.

I just can’t get enough of these tangled oak branches.

Made a day trip to Lost Maples State Natural Area.

To everyone’s delight on a warm day.

Now we’re home.