Texas
We’ve moved a couple times in the last few days. We moved from a park we liked to a different park so we could get WiFi. It turned out to be something off someone’s home computer. It was wireless, but it was SlowFi. Verrrrrrry SlowFi. And the park was full of stickers. Judy couldn’t take Annie for a walk without putting her snow boots on, then pulling all the stickers out of the muttluks afterward.We moved again today. A real WiFi park, right outside the entrance to Bentsen Rio-Grande State Park. Not so many burrs. This is better. Since we’re right outside the prime bird viewing ground of Bentsen Rio-Grande, logically, we drove fifty miles upriver to Salaneno. We wanted to visit the Bird Lady. She and her husband have spent the winters on their property there for over twenty years, feeding birds and chasing away the grackles. Their property is open every day to anyone who wants to stop and visit and watch the birds. They like to shut it down about four pm each day and we didn’t get there till late so we only had twenty minutes.In twenty minutes, we did get to see lincoln’s sparrow; chipping sparrow; goldfinch; yellow rumped, and orange crowned warbler; ground, inca, white-winged, and white-tipped dove; cardinal, black crested titmouse, green jay, brown jay, altimira oriole, and audubon’s oriole. No new birds, but we’ve never seen the white-tipped dove, the brown jay, or the two orioles anywhere else. Reports are that there are only twelve brown jays in the entire united states.The birding frenzy is almost over. We’ll head back towards reality and winter soon. In the meantime, we hear there are scaled quail and bewick’s wrens at Falcon State Park.
Texas
My claim to fame as a swimmer was that I sank. I couldn’t float on my back. I couldn’t float. Not in fresh water, anyway. That was unusual, even for the swim team. I was lean. I could take as deep a breath as I could hold, let go of the side, and sink to the bottom of the nine-foot section of the pool. I could stand on the bottom. It didn’t make me a better swimmer. It just made me different.Of course, now, I’ve filled out a bit. My body density has changed. I don’t sink. Hey! That means I’m less dense now! Anyway, since I was in the pool cooling off tonight, I decided to check my flotation. My feet don’t float. My torso does. Until I let some air out. Then I drop a bit. I let more air out. I float lower. If I let all the air out….. I sink! I don’t sink for very long, because I have to come right back up for air. I just let it all out. I’d be just like I was in high school if I didn’t need air in my lungs.
Bentsen Rio-Grande State Park. Swarms of goldfinches. Plain chachalacas chuckling it up. Green Jays squawking. A yellow warbler. A Great Kiskadee. A report of a blue bunting. We chased it. It turned out to be an indigo bunting. Two indigo buntings, a female and an immature male. That’s a good one. 336 on the life list. A report of a social flycatcher. I never heard of a social flycatcher. We chased it too, but didn’t see it.Frontera Audubon thicket in Weslaco. Went for the groove-billed anis. Not there today. We did find the olive sparrow. That’s a good one for us. Found Wilson’s warbler, and black and white warbler. Found the clay colored robin, and get this, a crimson collared grosbeak #337, and a white-throated robin #338. A white throated robin! It’s not even in the book!
Work
Did I mention that Stephanie left our office a couple years ago. That was bad news. She’s the ultra distance runner. She was fun and interesting. Besides, she’s really really smart and good.But the good news is that she brought in her own replacement before she left. Janay. Janay is just as smart and good as Stephanie. Now the bad news. Janay’s family wanted to return to Utah so, middle of December, she interviewed with a firm in Provo and got a great offer. She left. That sucks. She didn’t even provide a replacement, even though we told her that was a rule.But guess what? At the Company Christmas Dinner Party, where alums in good standing (I didn’t have to fire them) are invited, Stephanie told us how much she missed us and how dull all the people at her new job are. Well, we got all over that!So the good news is, Stephanie is back.
Texas
Texas cookin. Texas culture. We soaked it up. The Warehouse Barbecue. Baby backs, sausage, and shredded brisket so good I couldn’t put barbecue sauce on it. Barbecue at a picnic table with a napkin holder on top in the shape of a picnic table, with a live bluegrass/country five piece band with a combined age of 350, playing to an audience with a combined age of 3,500, for tips. Mandolin, acoustic, electric, string bass, acoustic. It was clear they had all played before. It was not clear if they had ever played together before.The walls were covered with all the stuff you would expect the walls to be covered with at a Texas Roadhouse. Elvis plays on Friday nights.




