http://www.blogger.com/html?blogID=4316350785635987648 Cave Dwellings: A Touch of Reality
Cave Dwellings

Buckhorn Creek, Lake O' The Pines, Jefferson, TX

Sunday, January 11, 2009

A Touch of Reality

Hello again from South Texas..land of sunshine and warmth..but not yesterday or today. Yesterday we awoke to a blanket of fog but the temps were upper 60's...That changed rapidly when the wind switched about 10AM and it started misting.I quickly switched from shorts and T-shirt to sweats...My sweats were getting lonely anyway.
We had a delightful surprise on our walk yesterday, though. First of all, if a fog rolls in down here, every spiderweb on every bush and cactus comes to life. For those with arachnaphobia it may be a nightmare come true. I, however, can tolerate a spider so much better than a snake. The Rio Grande valley became a whole new world of webs. Usually I take my camera, but of course this morning I didn't..and by the time we got back to our camper the breeze had started and the webs magically disappeared..(but I knew they were really still there, a little creepy I must admit.)
Also we had one other BIG surprise on our camera-less (is that a word?) walk. We were clipping along the road and Den says to me "What is that in the road up ahead?" I squinted, (I also walked without my glasses), and said" maybe a Coyote, but it has no tail". Hmmmm, medium size, perky ears, no tail and definitely not on a leash..Suddenly the animal in question heard us and sauntered off into the scrub brush...It was at this moment Den and I looked at each other and in unison said "Bobcat!!". Oh, yes, it was!!....I knew that they had some around here, but they are hardly ever seen. As we were walking along discussing our great "siting", I suddenly thought to ask Den.."Are Bobcats dangerous?", because he was still out there somewhere.. I got no answer from the amazing Karnak, so I picked up the pace a bit.
I managed to get a pretty good photo of a Javelina the other nite..Dennis was luring them into our campsite with corn. At one time we had about 5...they were even beginning to lie down and nap by our campfire...Now this is just not to my liking. Here is one I shot (with the camera)..."I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille...."
A face only a mother Javelina could love..

This morning we haven't walked yet. Usually we do not walk on Sundays...Hey, God says it's a day of rest, and I, for one, will not argue with HIM! As we were lounging in our reliners with our coffee,(yes, life is rough for us), I turned to look out our big back window..Lo and behold we had an Oriole at one of the pieces of orange I had hung in the tree behind us..an Audubon Black Faced Oriole, to be exact..I know this cause I am a total geek and have the bird book attached to my ass..Den just happened to have the camera in his hand..(trust me, he is as big a geek as I am about the birds), and he took this photo..


Dennis decided it was time to "dump the tanks" and avoid a very nasty "spill". While he was avoiding a nuclear meltdown under our camper, I did some photo downloading and blogging..We probably will take a bike ride later this afternoon if we can fit it into our schedule..ha ha..If I happen to get some pictures I will share..I promise..

I told you I would share our bike ride photos and here is one. I think this is and Egret. (But if it isn't I'm sure someone will let me know!). He was wading down in the primitive camping area where the water is flooded almost up to the road. We also spotted a "mystery" bird down there. Everytime I tried to zoom in he moved..Dennis suggest he wade out into the water and get a shot. I took him seriously and said "OK", but I guess he was just toying with me. He should know by now not to toy with me about that.. I would have him hanging from a cliff ledge to get a good photo of wildlife!! Anyway, I finally zoomed in just before he flew off..Anyone have a guess??

He is a chubby little bird...I feel a kinship with him...
We rode past the boat launch and there were about 20 boat trailers and trucks all lined up. So many of them were bright vibrant colors, I felt I had just crossed the border! We knew the flooding was really bad down by the picnic area and I felt another photo op coming, so onward we road....I know your butt is sore, Dennis, but just a little bit longer, pulllllease!!
Here is one of the picnic spots, now to be used only by the wading birds as a look out for fish...

While we were down by the picnic spots, or what use to be picnic spots, I saw the opportunity to take a zoomed photo of the bridge to Mexico at the dam. This is a free bridge and you can go across, but there is zero to do on the other side in Mexico unless you just want a dusty bike ride, at some risk I might add. At one time last year I thought Den and I should ride our bikes across. I guess some people do...but the publicity of the big drug wars going on down here this year,(border patrol being fired on, etc,) made me think better of it. I know...I'm usually more adventuresome, but it is easy to forget...that is another country just over the bridge, and over there you are "on your own"...no "dial 911" over there...So, we will wait until we go "into the valley" about 70 miles from here into South Texas, (where the REAL winter Texans RV),and walk across the bridge at Progresso. There are more Americanos there than Mexicanos..and it is very, well, somewhat, safer..Rest assured I will blog about it when we do, in the meantime, here is the Falcon Lake "DAM" bridge...

Note the guard tower on the right side..I rest my case.
Well, I'll just bet you blog readers wish we would actually GO somewhere and get some different pics. Let me say that we are basically in the middle of "nowhere" here. We plan on doing some day trips, but I am a wildlife freak and sometime the only "wildlife" you see when sightseeing is too X-rated to post....Later....

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