A Pause For Penny Repairs

I've been pecking away at Airstream fixes the last week, just finishing the repair of the rock screen that we nearly lost in Houston (after ordering a couple of small parts from Out-of-Doors Mart, a wonderful Airstream outfit in North Carolina which handles $10 orders as fast as major purchases). I've got a new plug for the electrical system and need to wait for a dry day to install it.

Meanwhile, a lump on our dog's left hind leg is getting pretty ugly, as she "works" it. We noticed it last Fall during an annual exam and did bloodwork at the time - and when the results were OK, decided to wait and see. But, things have gotten worse and while she doesn't favor it while running, it needs attention.



And we are 2,000 miles from our vet. So, I did a search and started calling. The first clinic was not accepting new patients but the next was, and I took her into Rockport to the Bay Breeze Animal Clinic where Dr. Kim Harrell and staff checked her out. I was pleased with their professionalism and care - and Penny is on antibiotics in preparation for surgery next Tuesday.

Of course, we were planning to leave next Wednesday but I jumped on line before the appointment and snagged the last camping spot available. So we won't have to move and will stay another week to see how things go. Not the worst place to be stranded in February. We are getting some more needed rain but forecasts for next week look in the 70's.

I look forward to dealing with this. I don't look forward to living in a 25' tin can with a Vizsla who can't run for two weeks. Of course, some might say that she's a little too much like me. Moi?

Birds of Goose Island

Goose Island State Park in Rockport, Texas is a great birding spot - even in a drought year like the present one. Between shorebirds and woods birds, there's a great diversity of species and some years (although not this one) a rarity or two. Here are some captures of a few of the interesting feathered friends I've encountered in the last week.




A Buff-bellied Hummingbird




Laughing Gulls




Orange-crowned Warbler




Ruddy Turnstone




Spotted Towhee




Turkey Vultures




White-crowned Sparrow




Willet

Rain - finally

Listening to the rain patter on our aluminum roof is comforting, even after a sleep-depriving series of thunderstorms last night. Ever since we got here at Goose Island State Park, the impact of the long drought has been very evident. Little wetland areas along the trails are bone-dry and the soil is dusty. Yesterday, we saw six cardinals gathering near our water hose connection, taking drinks from a small leak.

One of the biggest concerns is about the Whooping Cranes that migrate here from Wisconsin. An AP release last month noted:

"The lack of rain has made estuaries and marshlands too salty for blue crabs to thrive and destroyed a usually plentiful supply of wolf berries. In addition, a long-lasting "red tide" — a toxic algae that blooms in salty water — has made it dangerous for the birds to eat clams, which retain the algae's toxin and can pass it along the food chain."



The refuge folks and local ranches are feeding the cranes to help them avoid starvation. Normally, there are a few in a field just north of the park where the owners provide feed. It is a popular spot for photographers and birders. This year, we counted 13 Whoopers and several Sand Hill Cranes.

Some have noticed more of a survival mentality as well. Usually, crane families are territorial - in fact, we have seen newcomers driven off by the host birds. This year, they all hang together - sort of a "times are tough" community. They've got a long road ahead of them to build up strength for the long haul north.

Of course, the diversion of fresh water by oil interests, a subject of a law suit by environmental groups, has exascerbated the salinity situation. The lawsuit was filed last year by The Aransas Project, a nonprofit group of local governments, advocacy groups and tourism-dependent businesses in the Coastal Bend, claiming the state mismanaged water in the Guadalupe River watershed, contributing to the record die-off in 2008-09 of 23 endangered whooping cranes.

This rain, while welcome, is just the proverbial drop in the bucket. I suspect that the drought will continue for some time and that the cranes will have to survive on handouts.

Photo of Whooping Cranes at Aransas NWR by Fish & Wldlife Service

My Latest Interest: Geocaching

I was out looking for a bald eagle's nest at Fountainebleau State Park when a Texas auto pulled up. The driver asked if I'd found it and having been there before, helped me locate it through my scope. When I asked if they were birders, he replied, "No, we are geocachers from Biloxi."

Well, I knew what geocaching was since our grandson, Mac, had just gone on a Cub Scout geo outing. When my new friend asked, "Want to see one?" I followed him up to a little path into the underbrush. He reached down and lifted up a root, showing me the drilled hole in the underside, with a small cylinder inserted. He showed me the rolled up log sheet inside - and I was hooked. I went to his website (Gulf Coast Geocachers)read up a bit, downloaded an iPhone app, and was off and running.

Here's a little of what I learned (from Wikipedia):
Geocaching is an outdoor sporting activity in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world.

A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook where the geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their established code name.



Larger containers such as plastic storage containers (tupperware or similar) or ammunition boxes can also contain items for trading, usually toys or trinkets of little value.




Geocaching is often described as a "game of high-tech hide and seek", sharing many aspects with benchmarking, trigpointing, orienteering, treasure-hunting, letterboxing, and waymarking.

Geocaches are currently placed in over 100 countries around the world and on all seven continents, including Antarctica. After 10 years of activity there are over 1,532,000 active geocaches published on various websites. There are over 5 million geocachers worldwide.

So, I've done some geocaching at Fountainebleau and Lake Fausse Pointe in Louisiana and at Village Creek annd Goose Island state parks in Texas. I find that it goes well with dog walking, biking, and birding and like the fact that it gets you outside. I also like the geeky aspect of gps and online record-keeping and tracking objects around the country and the world. I also like the inter-generational potential of it; kids love it.

So for now, it's a "give it a try" activity to check out. When the birds are resting, it is a chance to get out the iPhone and see where the closest geocache might be. And perhaps, there's a new bird waiting there as well.

The Trails of Lake Fausse Pointe State Park

We had never been to Lake Fausse Point SP but after an interesting journey getting there, Penny and I enjoyed getting out on their many trails. 

Most are very bikeable if you are comfortable with roots and long rather narrow bridges over swamps.  You see lots of neat things like this gnarly tree:

And this sign:

And this cottonmouth

From time to time, while I am checking something out, Penny relaxes along the trail

One outing, we came back to the interpretive center and in talking with the naturalist, I asked, “Any alligators out this time of year?”  She said, “There are eight out back.”  Sure enough, in the small pond behind the center, a bunch of small ‘gators were lying around, quite dormant in the cool temperatures.  There are two or three in the picture below -- but I would never have thought to look for them if she had not told me about them.

We endured a line of storms with a tornado watch while we were there.  Most of us gathered at the conference center because of the concern of high winds but all passed without damage, aside from a deluge of rain throughout the night.

One ranger told me:  “This is Cajun country and you have to want to get to this campground to do so.  It’s off the beaten path.  We like it that way.”   

Aside from the rain and mosquitos, so did we.

Check out my birding blog at Vermont Birder

I-10 Builds Character

We moved today from Fontainebleau State Park which involves jumping on to I-12 which hooks up with I-10 out of New Orleans.  It's never fun and today, with the temperature a muggy 79 degrees, it seemed worse than ever.  The haze hung over the wetlands and the tractor-trailers made life miserable.

Things got worse as we headed past Baton Rouge in a windy section with heavy traffic.  A kid in a car beside us yelled something and pointed toward the back of our rig as we navigated some curves.  I swung into a breakdown lane, just after an on ramp, and carefully exited the truck.  The traffic roaring by was scary but as I went to the back of the trailer, I saw what they had been yelling about.  Our electrical cord had escaped from the holder and was dragging the plug down the highway.  Talk about road rash -- the plug looked pretty sad as I stowed it safely away.

Getting back on and up to speed was tough and then we nearly missed a split of the highway, needing a quick change to a left lane but then we were over the Mississippi and things got a bit more quiet.  The GPS route to Lake Fausse Pointe State Park looked a little crooked but I wanted off I-10 so we followed the routing. I told Mary, " It looks like a goat path on the map." Louisiana doesn't spend a lot of money on their back roads -- the road we were on was narrow, pock-marked, but straight with a speed limit of 55 mph.  No way was I going that fast on such a road, which wound back and forth, through little hamlets, past many fishing camps, and eventually coming to a pontoon bridge, ending with a sudden lurch up over a levee on to a real road.  (The park ranger, hearing my route, told me that several bigger rigs have lost antennas and mirrors on that bridge.)  We won't be going back that way.

A pontoon bridge rated at 5 tons (now what do we weigh?)

Nearly every camp/home we passed on the "goat path" had a name:  "Bud's Swampland." "Who Dat?" .... It was an interesting look at rural Louisiana but it was nice to get on a wider highway for the last 15 miles down to the park.  As we listen to peepers this evening, it's a far cry from the chaos of Interstate 10.  In spite of the mosquitos, I prefer this setting much more.

Southern Comfort

After a nice stay at Harrison Bay State Park in Tennessee, where we had the park nearly to ourselves, we drove down to ClarkCo State Park in Mississippi where we have stayed before.  Since we were moving on  Martin Luther King Day, the traffic was relatively light through Chattanooga, Birmingham, and Tuscaloosa.  We settled into ClarkCo and I had a chance to take the dog on several long runs (she can roam on the back trails since no one is there.)

Staying with in ClarkCo for a few days gave us a chance to see Kevin and Jason, our Mississippi friends.  They took us out to eat at a local favorite -- Charlie's Catfish House -- and we enjoyed a wonderful meal and had a great time.  Of course, the food is fried and tasty -- one of those places where you don't worry about calories.  We topped it off with a King Cake back at Kevin & Jason's Laurel home and I got the baby, which means good luck and I have to buy next year's King Cake.

Catfish, Steak Fries, & Hush Puppies

It's a pretty easy four-hour drive down to Fountainebleau State Park, on the north shore of Lake Ponchartrain.  The park is great -- even while nearly filled with locals here for the weekend.  It's neat to have kids framming around on bikes and enjoying 70's weather.  The birding here is superb as well and all Louisiana parks have decent wifi.  So, after a week of 3G, we could get caught up on some of our laptop projects.

I've had the bike out and got Penny running alongside.  It's a good way for both of us to get exercise when we can't let her run.  We are off to Lake Fausse Pointe state park tomorrow -- a place we've not visited, then start heading west toward Texas.  Enjoying shorts and T-shirt weather and many birds.

Photo by Sam Is Hungry