Thursday, October 22, 2009

Scary Happening

I went over to my daughter's house to meet the grand children when they got off the bus. Put the key in the lock and opened the door. As I did I heard a door slam somewhere in the house. I thought it was just the wind slamming an interior door. So I made snacks for the kids and when they came in we noticed that the kitchen window was open and the screen on the ground. Turns out that someone was in the house when I opened the door. They got away with a computer. Needless to say we are now installing ADT security in both our homes. Guess I was lucky that the thief wasn't violent.

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

The Marina

Charlotte Plummer's Seafood Restaurant has a wonderful view of the marina. The shrimp boats were all in so I am supposing that it isn't the season for them. Notice the white caps on the mooring posts. That is to deter birds from roosting there. Not fair in my opinion. Birds are what give marina's their charm.











Sunrise, Sunset

Fishing pier at sunrise


Campground at sunset


The Fishing Pier

The evening and night was the time to fish off the pier. Who knew? Well, everyone except me. The fish are attracted by the lights on the water and in came spotted trout, sand trout, perch, and other small fish followed by big ones like red fish. One night a dolphin was swimming just outside of the light glow. With a borrowed pole, I caught quite a few little ones but nothing big enough to keep. I was happy with catch and release because I really didn't want to eat them.

The Campground



Port Aransas Wildlife Refuge

The Port Aransas Wildlife Refuge is not far from Goose Island, so we drove up there in the hopes that the Whooping Cranes had arrived. They hadn't, but we saw wild turkeys and a wild hog! The lady at the visitors' area told me to keep Sookie close because an alligator might eat her. Yikes!!!! In some places you couldn't get out of the car because the mosquitos were so thick. However, there was a great observation tower that rose above the treetops and gave a wonderful perch for bird watching. I'm definitely planning to return in spring.

Through the truck window






The Catch

Here's what was being caught. These were red fish which I'd never heard of, but then I'm not much of a "fisher person" yet.



You can certainly see why the pelicans are smiling.

Pelicans

These guys were total beggars and were hanging around the boat ramp where people were cleaning the fish that they caught. When fishermen threw the fish heads etc. into the water, they went for them along with a bunch of hard head catfish that where lurking in the depths as well. They were like piranhas and I held Sookie tight because I thought they would probably eat her if she fell in.








Goose Island





Sookie and I spent five days at Goose Island State Park. When we got there on Thursday, the weather was hot and very humid which we were hoping to avoid, but a cold front came through in the night and the weather changed from miserable to perfect for the rest of our stay. I have to laugh at the words "cold front" because in Texas that means the weather changes from 90+ degrees to 60 degrees. One might need to put on a sweatshirt.

The campground is right on the water so when the bay is rough waves splash over the sea wall within five feet of your site. The sea gulls are so tame that they take food right out of your hand. People were fishing right beside their tents and RV's. And speaking of tents, there was one right next to me and they had an air conditioning unit sitting outside with a vent hose plugged into a window. I've never seen something like that before.

Best of all were the pelicans!...