§ Disaster Strikes..

...for me anyway! Not so much for anyone else. LOL

You see, while the crew was digging the holes in order for placing the piers under the foundation, the ground breaking and hitting the soil so close to the house made one of our pictures on the wall; fall to the floor. Okay, the placement of a chair, in front of the picture, for reading [our library] is in the corner and on an angle. Behind the chair, I thought, was a safe place to put my Halloween Witch Hat Clock. Out of harm's way where it wouldn't get broken...ever. Guess what? Yep, the heavy framed print fell right on the brim of the witch's hat!! Broke it. Shattered! I was going to throw it away and search Amazon for a new one just like it. Well, I found the exact clock! But...thing is, the price was jacked up nearly 500% of what I paid for it years ago. [the price tag was/is still on my broken one] No way was I gonna pay that price. I then decided to piece it all together...collecting the shards on the carpet. That was something I wouldn't wish for on my worst enemy...super glue, fingers, and small pieces don't work well together. I again was ready to throw it out. But then, I got an idea. A wonderful, awful, idea.....get some air dry clay and patch it up.

I cut a piece of screen and glued that to cover the large gap on the underside of the brim. Went inside and removed all the super glue on my fingers, and opened my clay I purchased at Michael's Crafts. Started to place the clay over the screen. So far, so good! There is still a lot of experimenting and sanding and matching paint, but I think it will suffice. The $10 clay and my time is less expensive than a used clock thru Amazon. And that is not figuring in shipping and handling!!! Keeping my fingers crossed this repair project works. My luck tho, once it is complete [thinking positive], the clock will no longer keep time [not so positive]. LOL

In the interim [72 hours for clay to dry sufficiently], I took a short walk along the Oso Bay Wetlands Park the other day. At the time I arrived, one of the ponds was nearly covered with open white water lilies. I went snap happy! They were all so pretty and delicate looking. The stillness of the morning enhanced the quiet solitude of the walk for me. I enjoyed the silence and birdsong too...

§ A Short Walk Just to Get Away!

This week, it's been most of my waking hours being on the phone! Planning, getting our health insurance to work with me for the upcoming June [I will go into more detail later], house insurance, car insurance, and oh so much more ...all on the phone. It seems from the time my breakfast is over, I get on the phone, talk or use the company's phone menu to connect with someone, then, talk more, get transferred to another...put on hold, walk around or sit for minutes what seem like hours, waiting and listening to some gawd-awful music. One time, I played solitaire with real cards while my phone was put on speaker, and played an entire game before being connected with a 'human'. If I hear "Your call is important to us, please remain on the line" one more time I'll scream. But, I do believe I have only ONE more to deal with then I'm done!! So, I really haven't gone on many long walks. I did on Thursday, just to get out of the house and away...I did NOT take my cellphone with me on purpose! lol

I went to the Wetlands at Oso Bay...the area that has miles of trails.  The cool front that came through the night before was terrific...the temperature at mid-day was only 69° and the humidity was LOW!!!---10%. It was like living in Colorado again with such dry air. Anyway, I of course took photos. I'll share a few here with the third photo from the beginning the entrance to the park grounds.  Then...

I'll begin at the fountain across from the Learning Center-

From there I walked to the Learning Center and stepped around the Pond. The water lilies were just beginning to open, so I made a note to stop by on the way back to the car when done with my step count. I walked the trails to the observation tower. The trees were absolutely radiant, all over, with the new Spring lime-green foliage!! I met a fellow birder [seen in 2nd photo, in the series below, on trail ahead of me] along the way, and he told me what birds he had seen, only 3. And all common coastal year 'round residents...

Upon my return after tallying up a mile or two, it was beginning to feel too hot, so I headed back to the playground, sat under the shade of the trees at a park bench, watched the kids play a bit [a really cute girl [2 1/2 year old] was being read to at a nearby bench]. I walked back over to the fountain/waterfall [saw a dove and a cardinal making use of the crystal clear water]. Walked around the fountain boardwalk, took a few more photos [one is where I spotted a rabbit on the bench and thought it was a good one for the Easter Week coming up]. Then, back over to check one of my favorite photo op areas; the water lilies, before leaving for the day. A couple hours away from the phone and home refreshed me somewhat...

Notice the similar hair styles?

§ Sunday and the Beginning of My Week...

...Had some questions for my cardiologist this week, so I scheduled an appointment with the nurse practitioner at that office. I got 'em all answered for my peace of mind, plus a lot more good news. So, I'm happy 'bout it and glad I went. Again, they tell me there is no need to schedule a check up for another year. Of course, that is if nothing goes wrong or something unexpected pops up! It's hot here. 90°F at 4 pm when I'm typing this up on Wednesday for a prescheduled post for Thursday morning. The sky is cloudless, a slight breeze, and quite dry [for the coast]. Behind this all, there is a front that will move in and cool things down a bit...with highs in the mid-80s and lows in the upper 50s. Yay. That temp range is perfect for me. lol Anyway, to get back to my day trip for now,  on Sunday morning I drove to Ocean Drive where the South Bay intersects with Oso Bay with a road dividing it all. On the South Bay side, this is what I saw as I drove the mile or so without getting out of the car and then walking some of the distance around the street. The house in the series of four below happens to be one of my favorites along the way. It's on a curve in road, and from the widow's walk level you can see the bay waters. Also, love the gingerbread siding AND the matching gingerbread roofing [and the color scheme]...

...on the other side of the road, I again walked the distance and of course, took photos. This time of year the bird plumage [breeding] dazzles the eyes. Most all change and when I first started birding, I got confused of which bird I was looking at. But hard work, and study of the species, it's now 'old hat'. This is what I saw walking the opposite shore...

...and as usual a collection of more bird photos will be published on my bird blog Saturday afternoon [at noon, Texas time].

§ ...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!!

§ Lilies of the Field...

This area I walk often is part inlet water and chaparral...desert meets the bay! It was set aside as a nature park for the public; specifically for school-aged children with the learning center so that adolescents and pre-teens can have field trips and be taught about the diverse area of this state of Texas. You have sub-tropic, and low lying dry lands. Filled with wildlife. When I arrived and parked the car to begin my walk, I stopped at the playground/center first. There is a small lily pond. But, at that hour, the lilies were just beginning to open as you notice in the photo to the right. So, I snapped only one photo and moved on to the waterfall park section and then traversed the gravel trails up to the observation tower at the bay's inlet...seeing willets, stilts, egrets, herons, ducks, gulls, and one osprey. This tower is highly elevated [for us sea level dwellers] and there is always a cool breeze blowing through...shaded and a nice stopping place to enjoy the quietude and watch wildlife. There was a lady [named Carol ---she is a volunteer at the wetlands] I've talked with oftentimes. She told me that she had just seen a white-tailed deer and her two fawns.] Anyway, I digress. Since this post is about the water lilies.  After more traversing the many paths through mesquite, cactus, and palo verde trees in bloom, I once again took a side track back to the lily pond and they were now wide open...



As I left to head back to the car, through the butterfly garden, I stopped to photograph the palo verde blossoms [palo verde meaning green stick *the bark is green] and the turning of the mesquite leaves: