§ All About a Boy and a Girl and Teddy Bears...

It's 94°[F] at 1 PM as I type this up to preschedule publication. For a few minutes when I walked out to the mailbox for mail delivery, I watched the neighbors across the street building a new deck off their breezeway! Digging post holes in this heat [I imagine the heat index is above 100°!!] It might as well be 5000° for me! Crazy people. Anyway, I high-tailed it back to the cool interior. And, in this heat I have absolutely no gumption. I'm not walking as I should; just from the car to the grocery store and back to the car. I gotta get out tomorrow to take photos of some birds for my bird blog. It'll be a drive-by shooting from the open car window somewhere maybe. Or at least a well-shaded park. Maybe I'll just dig into my photo archive and find some there and call it good.

In the meantime, I've been sketching. As you know if you viewed my last post, the flower. After that was done, I went out on the 'net in search for still life. I decided to look for photos of teddy bears. I have three stuffed ones here at home, but they're of a polar bear and a panda. The other one is a Denver Bronco bear. Nah! Not good material for sketching. I found a really sweet one and uploaded it to my folder for future use. Then, as I scrolled more, I found the "perfect" one. Then...a 2nd perfect one!! The last two days I've worked on both...

Young boy and his teddy...gotta have a young girl, right?

If this heat keeps up, there will be a lot of sketching going on. Ya, I read books a lot, but that gets boring after a while - - no brain function. No thinking, no mental challenge.  LOL Oh, and the last few days, since I HAVEN'T been walking much, my sprained pelvis is feeling much better!!!!!! I hope, once I get back to walking the beaches again, it'll be feeling just as good. Don't wanna over-do, right?  Maybe this heat is a blessing in disguise.

Today, my youngest turns 50.  Holy cow.

§ In the Merry Month of May...

TUESDAY:

Just spending a couple hours along the beach...




WEDNESDAY:

Our 54th Wedding Anniversary
Out to lunch.

THURSDAY:
Our grandson's 33rd birthday today!
[ps]our youngest grandson had his college graduation Law School Hooding ceremony this past Saturday. Will share photos soon.

§ Bud...

Bud is celebrating another DAM birthday today!

§ Lunch Bell!!! Time to Eat...

Bud took me out for my annual, deep fat fried shrimp for my birthday lunch. As always it was delicious. This particular restaurant that we have dined at has the sweetest, most tender, fresh, butterflied shrimp I've ever had. And this year it was a special treat. It's been since 2020 [when the so called pandemic struck our country and everything was in lock-down]. Two years since I've celebrated my birthday, and I felt very privileged. Surprisingly, our waitress was still working! She remembers us, and we had a nice catching up chit chat while our meal was being prepared...Come to find out she will retire in March. So, I was glad to talk with her. Rarely do you find a waitress that is close to our age and we can make opinions, and give view points from our age group without offending anyone. Pleasant day!!

Afterwards, Bud wanted to stop for his Shiner's Bock on the way home. I perused the floral section while he was galivanting around the store picking up his things. I marveled at the beauty. Shook my head at the "Jacked-up" prices of bouquets, etc. They still gave me pleasure. Of course, it was all set up for Valentine's Day next week.  I especially loved seeing the deep sunny yellow calla lily!  Don't you think they have such an elegant blossom; flowing in curves so subtle and smooth?...

While Bud was busy and off somewhere with our cart, and I finished walking thru the floral with cellphone camera in hand, I then remembered that I wanted to look for something locally before I break down and have to order thru amazon. I found it.  Even with the exorbitant price for it at the store, it is STILL cheaper than Amazon Prime.  Talk about a rip off....Amazon used to be cheaper even if you paid postage and handling...not any more.  Amazon price [same brand and weight] for this particular item is twice the cost than the local HEB store.   And I'll tell you all about it in my next post!!

§ ...By the Beautiful Sea, You and Me....

I took a short walk along the bay's coastline in search of a surf scoter [which was reported on the bird site I frequent]. I never found it, and I couldn't stand idle for too long because of the bitter wind blowing! I kept walking. I ventured off the road and down the bank to get closer to the water. I ended up walking along the edge of the bridge that crosses the bay to the Navy base, as far as where I could go before trekking UNDER the bridge to the other side. This, other than bird photos of course, is what I saw. Corpus Christi is called the Sparkling City by the Bay.  The 3rd pic in the series below there are two white pelicans.  Look closely...

...looking back where I parked, the city skyline in the far distance:

The next day I ventured out in the car to the ranch lands in search of other birds reported. I saw many, and the weather was much warmer...hawks, whimbrels, meadowlarks, starlings, caracara, kestrels, falcons...but the one I was hoping to see I didn't, a diurnal owl [daytime]. When I go birding and armed with my zoom lens, I rarely see what I had in mind to hunt...It's mostly a given to get back home without a particular bird. That's okay tho, it keeps me out moving day after day!!  I don't give up that easily.

Today my birth certificate tells me I'm 73!!

I don't feel that old, as you can see...

Law says I must age to a certain degree...

But 73?  Wow, goodness gracious...gee!!

§ TableTop Garden Update...

Seems I have to wait for the best to bloom last. My favorite Spring Flower is the daffodil. The all yellow [none of the hybrid colors...the original. ---the bud, seen 2nd down on the right or, 4th in the series]

§ Table Top Garden...

I've been testing the waters, so to speak, with my new smartphone, and wi-fi connection and camera options [I like cameras...this one has so many nifty things...even a photo GPS!].  With our new senior plan, the internet connection GB are a lot less than what we previously had, so I think I'm not gonna like it much without a wi-fi connection and MORE internet browsing GB. We'll see. For now, today, instead of hotspot through the phone I'm going thru wi-fi. I guess. LOL...at least I think so. Not sure. Will find out sooner or later. With all phone carriers using hotspot, if after you use your allotted monthly giga-bytes the connection speed really slows down to a snail's pace. I cannot handle slow! I feel the need for speed!!

Anyway, it's been foggy for the last few days, I'm not going out, birding. Instead we work in the yard with winter kill clean-up for a couple of hours and call it quits for the day. There will be much more this year than the previous years, I do not lie!! But, I wanted to show you something...

For my birthday, my sister had shipped to me FEDex a "Table-top garden". She knows I love Spring flowers that we took for granted in Colorado. But, for here, zone 9, for planting such as daffodils, tulips, hyacinths...they don't do well at all. The bulbs rot in the ground with the water table being so high and warm ground. Hence, my "table-top garden"...

I kept it boxed in the garage during the 17 degree nights, and once that front moved out, I put it outdoors on the patio, and it's doing well...

The first to show signs of budding flowers were the hyacinths...

...and it didn't take long for a bee to find the blossoms!

§ I Gifted Myself AND Bud...

It all started yesterday morning! My sister was trying to call me and was directed to my voice mail each time...no ringtone on my phone. Something was amiss. Once she texted me the problem, I then went out on Bud's phone and called MY phone. Nothing...no ringtone. Sent to voice mail. Hmmmm. I called our phone carrier. The two of us went thru the whole spiel of possible problems. Still no fix. I then set up an appointment to go "In Store". Find out, there was no fix other than reestablishing new software.  Some how it all got corrupted. That would cost to get it fixed. Still, it was time to get upgraded to 5G...for my birthday Bud and I got new smartphones! They will also be for Bud's birthday in April. Wow, smartphones are outrageous in price these days!   Some were more than a $grand$!!! Our old ones were Samsung [which served us well over the last 15 years, from flip phones to smartphones]. This time, 5G since in the near future everyone will probably need to upgrade to that. 4G seems to be going out of service for a lot of carriers, or the fact that there will be no support for those soon. And, we wanted to go with the age 55+ plan that will save us money in the long run. Everything is unlimited and 100 GB of hotspot a month, if I need it to use for the laptop or desktop since we  have no cable anymore...it'll be only...mostly... to blog. [I like composing blog posts on a large screen compared to the small window and keyboard of a cell phone].

Anyway, I got my email accounts up and running, I transferred [smart switch] all my contact photos and phone #s along with all the info on each contact. Got my two blog log-in set up in Google with only one Security Alert from Google...yay. Transferred all my bookmarks and favorites to the phone. It's still a work in progress but, I'm moving along.

Thanks everyone, for all the well wishes yesterday!!!

§ What Happened Next...

After our little morning chit chat about cellphones, I patiently waited to have Dollar Tree open at 8 a.m. In fact leaving early on purpose to drive to Flour Bluff to check out the huge private lake for waterfowl. I saw mostly ducks, one tern, and before I left after a photo session, several Sandhill Cranes flew in and I stayed a bit longer.

Then, leaving and heading to the store for the craft supplies needed to make the same as Ann made. But, for a different reason. I found what I needed, purchased them, and got home to begin my making of what I had in mind. Similar to Ann's but, still a bit different.

I began by painting the three boxes. While the paint dried, I stained the arrows. Once those dried, I then added the lettering for each tier. "To Be Paid", "ATM", and "To Be Filed". I also added some wood cut-outs on the outside of the arrow pieces...birds, naturally. After all was dried and ready to assemble, that's what I did! The lower box was raised a bit off the table/counter to make the arrow appear to be legs. Then, the top box was glued in place. Then, the center box, centered. And the finished item... 

I then took the messy stuff that was in a kitchen drawer; recipts, bank statements, bills, etc. And filled the boxes, cleaning out the drawer for the rest of the junk like bag twisters, scissors, rubber bands, etc. And organized the drawer. Much better. And the tierd boxes are much more convenient now.

Thanks Ann, for the inspiration, AND thanks for the gnome card!!!!

Today I have a birthday...72 years ago, during the blizzard of '48-'49, I was born. The baby of 5 children.

§ My Annual Birthday Lunch....

Yesterday, when I was young[er]







...I have 364 days yet for my annual shrimp lunch on my birthday; the 9th

§ Too Late for Seeing Leprechauns?

A few weeks back I mentioned a couple of books; one I had read and the other what I had planned on reading. I had thought when I read the publisher's synopsis this would be a good historical fiction on our first president and his first true love [before he married Martha]. I must be honest. The novel was a huge struggle to complete. The author, in my opinion turned it into a romance fantasy. She wrote more about Mary's dimples on her right cheek and then on her left cheek more times than I care to mention. Chapter after chapter the General [Washington] was thinking about and checking out her dimples!!! What does that have to do with making a book worthy of reading? Just not my style. She went into more depth of powdered wigs and secret meetings and dances, and Mary's struggles of being a woman of value to her family and self esteem than that of the general facts of historic value. A big disappointment.  Gone With the Wind it's not!!!! Sure, there was Rhett and Scarlet and the scandalous life-styles, but Mitchell at least told the story of the Civil War. 

Well, let me tell you....I was so wanting to stop reading it, and yet, I kept thinking that it's GOT to get BETTER. Sometimes I was ready to close it and just trade it in at the used book store...instead, this is what I ended up doing. When frustration set in, I took out my sketch book. It was coming up on St. Pat's Day and I thought it'd be fun to sketch a leprechaun. It's taken me a few weeks to get it done, but I'm satisfied.   While drawing, I was completely able to forget the disaster between the book covers...

Bud and I are both of Irish blood - me 1/2 Irish and Bud is something like...his British ancestors jumped the Irish picket fence once or twice. Speaking of Irish and Leprechauns...My little Irish Lass [Irene] turns FIFTY on April Fools Day

She is 18 in this photo.