§ This and That....

For a few days I've stayed home and got some menial jobs done around the house. One was nothing earth shattering, but it took most of the morning. And since I go walking in the morning only, I didn't that day. The job of work was to clean, wax, dust, and arrange the entertainment center. One side of the shelving unit has our collection of DVD [and even some old VHS!!]. When using them, they never get put back in the original slot. So, I wanted to take them all out [100s] and dust the shelves, then arrange them alphabetically. By the way, you may wonder why we still have VHS in our collection...we have a DVD/VHS player, and some of our favorite movies have never made it to DVD. So, they stay here with us. Then, on the other side of the unit are four more shelves. There I have cassettes, CDs, and even vinyls -33 rpm and 45s-. Yep we have a record player, CD, and cassette player all in one. The collection of vinyls go back to the history of JAZZ, Elvis, Righteous Bros, Willie Nelson, Ray Charles, Herb Alpert, and many classical compositions. I even have a collection of Winston Churchill speeches in several volumes on 33rpm.

Now that you know the background of this post somewhat, the reason there is nothing much, I am sharing a few eclectic photos with you 'cause I have nothing better to share at the moment. I haven't gone walking 'cause the heat index has been hitting the 110° mark.  If I do go anywhere, it's all in the Air Conditioned Car...

Just outside our house, "x" marks the spot!

Finally, the frozen pitiful looking palm trees are coming back...

Power Line Repair work...on island highway!

 

Gift Shop Exterior on NORTH Padre Island [not South Padre Island...that's Brownsville, Texas]

 

I brought my lens-ball in from the car to clean and took a couple photos of a couple of my glass dolphins.

And Isaiah being somewhat of a mechanic. He thought the tire was a bit low and tried showing me that they needed inflating a bit so he could crawl under the chassis and check out the drive train for me.

 

 

...and to continue showcasing my Trolls...

↓ My 27th Troll Share ↓

TROLL DOLL COLLECTION Holiday Themed SMALLEST IN MY COLLECTION Thanksgiving Pilgrim circa: 80s

§ On the Second of July...

Early in the morning, before sunrise, I left to drive the 30+ mile drive through the dunes on my way to the Federal "National" Park on North Padre Island. I wanted to get there before the rush hour traffic is bumper to bumper, and for most of the way thru the city limits. At least until you get to the end of the four lane highway where it turns into a narrow two lane paved road the rest of the way to the entrance gate where you are stopped to pay your fee. [I have a senior card with me for all federal parks and get in with no cost]. Once I arrived, there were just two other vehicles in the Visitor Center's parking lot. Yay!! I love it when it's just me and sea!!! Why even on this 5 mile walk I was nearly ALL by MYSELF. Very few shore birds...unusual. I'm guessing it's still nesting season and the fledglings are keeping the parents busy. Only about 6 gulls, two willets and a handful of terns kept me company. When I was done half way, I turned around and got back in the car eventually, only to drive to Bird Basin [also in the park's grounds]. Again, quiet time! How I enjoy the fact there is no blaring TV on, no computers, no videos...just solitude and the great outdoors. At Bird Basin, it was like a huge VACANCY sign was posted. Three birds on my short walk along the shoreline.  By then, it was 91 degrees -without heat index factored in-...

notice the one -third from last- of the sand- there is a washed [from the surf] out heart?!!!

...and to continue showcasing my Trolls...

↓ My 20th Troll Share ↓

TROLL DOLL COLLECTION Holiday Themed 1st Love Valentine's Day circa: 80s?

§ Padre Isles...

On the 'back side' of Packery Channel Park and boardwalk, there is an outlet for kayakers and fishermen to have access to the channel waters. After walking the boardwalk, and then taking a short hike across the park road to a residential area, I then followed the park road to the kayaker's access area and walked the banks of the channel since the tide was out and there was 'beach' to walk on. This is a very heavy with photos blog so the images will be resized to small viewing to load faster. But, you can enlarge them thru the lightbox slideshow if you wish. Just click on the first image [Padre Isles] and you'll hopefully be able to see them bigger...

It's not a day that goes by that I don't see a mockingbird [even if it's in our yard]. But when I do it's usually a rogue, a loner. When I saw these two cavorting around a drip system, I took a photo! They were careful with their antics and watched me for a while and flew off into the bushes beyond. And for those that live up north, we here in the south have flowers blooming year 'round. During the winter months, when there is a lot of cold-weather kill and fields turn brown, the color of wildflowers here and there are a refreshing spot!




After leaving the Audubon sanctuary across from the channel park, I thought I'd venture on the natural path that goes behind the pond [seen in photo series above]. I took about a dozen steps off the observation platform at the water's edge, and froze!! Even if it is a harmless snake in the path, I don't like it one bit. I picked up a handful of sand and tossed it on its backside to get it to move. It didn't! I can tell you right now, if it would have moved I would have continued on my merry way once it was out of the path's path. But, dead or alive, it didn't budge. I turned around and thought..."I'll come back another day". I quickly left the area and walked the Sand Dollar Road of residential homes looking for birds at the owners' feeders. I saw a goat instead...



_ _ _

I backtracked to the main park road and headed to the channel waters. The sky was moody, the tide was low. You can walk the entire perimeter along the channel and come out to the Park Road 22 [the highway that takes you OVER the bridge causeway to the island/Corpus Christi]. A new starbucks coffee shop is at the end nearby a grove of cypress trees where I spotted an Osprey with it's morning meal on a power line near the pole -look thru the tree line. Then, its a turn-around for me and back the way I came. About 5-6 miles walk totalled that morning...

§ 2020 in Review... Part IV

This time around, it's a little bit about island life...at sunrise, a snowy egret on the hunt for breakfast along the shore, the jagged edge along the Laguna Madre, a small furbaby enjoying the beach with its master, the curious sea gulls inspecting an empty chair [what?  no hand-outs?], the snow white sand dunes, egg shell case, to the way over the JFK Causeway Bridge from home to North Padre Island [note, this is NOT the tourist resort near Brownsville, Texas -South Padre Island...Corpus is just across the intercoastal channel to NORTH Padre Island.] We're approximately 150-175 driving miles from Brownsville. By the way, Padre Island-from north to south, the island barrier, is the longest barrier island in the WORLD!! Read about it here.

...and when I came upon this washed ashore, I thought it couldn't be more perfect for the year we've survived!! Not only Corona, but Corona Extra...all the phases of extreme outbreaks of the Novel Corona Virus after each long holiday weekend, holiday, or celebratory events!! Like a bad omen, not wanting to go away...



Part I [Lensball photography]
Part II [heart shapes in Nature]
Part III [Flowers around my World]

§ Life's A Beach...

Since "my" on-ramp to get onto the freeway heading to the islands is closed due to construction, I've been taking the residential street to get away from that and be able to access the freeway farther south from home. While driving the street, I noticed a huge cactus in someone's yard and it was the most heavily blooming cactus I have ever seen. I had to get a picture. Some cactus bloom at night, often seen are bats nearby, which I think this is one night bloomer. It seems the blossoms are beginning to close for the daylight. Looking through my zoom lens, I saw many black June Bug like bees collecting their pollen. The red pods are seed pods from spent blossoms [we used to get prickly pear and saguaro jelly from those pods when we lived in Tucson - a tart/sweet concoction]...

- - - -

Once I got to the islands, I decided to try one pier that was heavily damaged during the summer hurricane that hit just north of our city. Nope, that beach road is still cordoned off. I continue to drive to Padre Island National Seashore [federal park], then realize I left my Senior Pass at home. I took the first access road before entering the park and stopped and parked on the beach there and then walked. It was a gorgeous morning! Sun, but not hot. Quiet. Only one other person walking, and she was way ahead of me by about a 1/2 mile! A perfect outing. While I was there, I began looking for a long piece of driftwood. I eventually found a sizable piece and marked the area in my head so I could pick it up on my return to the car, later. But in the meantime, I enjoyed the ambiance, the cool breeze, the sound of the gentle surf, the birds, the numerous amount of sand crabs, by the hundreds, scurrying ahead only to drop down in their excavated homes on the beach. Some of the birds seen on this day were: seagulls [3 different species], two kinds of plovers, curlews, willets, turnstones, sandpipers, herons, and terns. On the drive there, I spotted an osprey with its breakfast, and a white tailed hawk, hunting for breakfast. I eventually got my steps counted, returned to the car not forgetting my driftwood and headed back home. Here is some of what I encountered along the walk....

...keep i mind, the trip to walk the beach was day before hurricane Delta hit the Gulf coast!