myretroperspective

My plans for this morning included Emma and I driving over to the Bolivar Peninsula.  I was going to dazzle my readers with all sorts of shorebird pictures from the beaches.  As it turned out, I could hardly find a bird, the shoreline was birdless, and the skies were full of mosquitoes.  Oh well, it was a beautiful day and the skies were blue. There’s still evidence of the devastation of hurricane Ike from three years ago. (click to enlarge and see details) But there are also a lot of new homes that have been rebuilt on the peninsula.  There  is even a new laundromat located in a mobile home elevated 18’ off the ground.  I’m not sure I’d want to carry my bags of dirty laundry up that many stairs, but I guess you do what you have to do.  I think these houses look funny way up in the air, but I can understand why it is done.  I enjoy all the vibrant colors of houses that can be found in the beach communities....

It was a day filled with minor defugalties.  (spell check has no suggestions for that spelling, but it’s a word I’ve used forever to describe small problems)  Yesterday afternoon I set out to do my laundry, but another volunteer was using the washer and dryer.  So I went back again this morning at 8:30, and yet a different volunteer had beat me to the laundry room.  So, I packed up my cameras and Emma and headed for the Skillern Tract for a little hike. The Skillern Tract is one of the few areas open to the public on the refuge that has water in it, and it is handicapped accessible.  Because of the drought, most of the moist soil units are bone dry.  When working at the VIS, we suggest to all birders that they drive a further 10 miles to visit this area. It’s a very nice walk through riparian habitat along East Bay Bayou.  This morning, the trees along the bayou were just bubbling with American goldfinches and sparrows.  I also saw blue-gray...

The latest cold front came blasting through early yesterday afternoon, and what a wind came with it.  The rain was pouring down horizontally across the RV pads, and anything not secured went flying.  The winds have just now finally abated a bit.  I struggled to open the door, and then had to hang onto it for dear life so it wouldn’t be ripped out of my hands. I was scheduled to work the afternoon in the VIS today, but I left early to take a drive around the refuge roads.  I made my way down to Frozen Point where there were plenty of whitecaps on Galveston Bay, and the birds were hugging the shoreline.                                            That wind was making their feathers stand on end!  Frozen Point got its name back in the day before th...

I was hoping to post pictures of how I do the salinity testing on the refuge tonight, but there was a fly in the ointment with that plan.  I’ll have to do that next week.  I picked up fellow volunteer, Jim, to take him along with me since I would be doing a back road that hadn’t had much use since hurricane Ike hit.  It turned out that the only pictures I could take were from the safety of the refuge vehicle.  We’ve got several white-tailed kites on the refuge right now. We did one test on the back road, but were accosted by thousands of mosquitoes.  I was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, and had to put the hood up and pull the strings to only leave a small area open on my face.  My only other exposed skin was my hands.  After that one trip out of the suburban, we decided to forget about the rest of the tests.  I’ve never seen the mosquitoes that bad.  Sitting in the car, the windows were covered with them!  We itched our way down th...

Growing up in Chicago, we didn’t have a shower in our house.  We had a footed tub in the bathroom that was filled half way on Saturday night.  If I was lucky, I got to take my bath first before my younger brother.  The water was used for both baths, don’t you know.  I remember, especially in summer, scrubbing away at the grey ring around my ankles.  Now you can understand the importance in being first.  I don’t think I took my first shower until I went away to college.                       (Tonight’s photos are of the little birds sharing our RV pads.   Eastern phoebe.) So what brought this memory back to my mind, you might ask?  Well, I’m having an issue with water pressure in the rig.  The water out of the pipe has plenty of pressure.  If I use my water pump, I have plenty of pressure.  But if I use the water hook-u...

One of the things that I do as a volunteer on the refuge is pick up trash that the fishermen and general public throw out their windows on the refuge.  Perhaps by the end of this post you will understand why I don’t find this assignment distasteful.  Although, I do find the fact, that it is necessary to pick up after thoughtless people, is disgusting.                                                                                   Willet                       ...

Welcome rain arrived today, so I decided to head to Beaumont on a few errands.  Last Saturday, I posted that I was having trouble finding the doggie poop bags that I’ve bought in the past.  Dollar stores have been the best places to find this item at an affordable price.  However, lately I’ve struck out on this quest at every dollar store.  On the way back to the rig, I stopped at the Family Dollar store in Winnie to inquire if they had what I was looking for. (I found them there last year)  My response when they said they no longer carried them was to say, “Awe shucks!”  A reader had suggested I use diaper refuse bags, but I couldn’t find any of those at Target today either.  It’s been a long time since I’ve perused the diaper aisle at any store! After I left Family Dollar, an employee came running after me asking if these small bags would work.  He said they no longer use these small item bags and I was welcome to them.  They’re only 8”...