Donna Being Compliant …Hard To Imagine..

This AM was very foggy when we walked.  The fisherman apparently don’t mind the fog, there were a gazzillion of trucks and empty boat trailers down by the launch.  They must do something like “combat fishing”. With all those boats zooming around in the fog, and almost no visibility to see where  you are, how do you keep from ramming another boat?..My luck, I would get lost and end up in Mexican waters..not advisable…. 

This fog did give me an idea…an idea about cleaning our truck, which hadn’t been washed since we left..YUCK!

Well, after doing my research about what you can and cannot WASH here at Falcon State Park, I was still totally confused.  The rules say you can wash your body, wash your dishes and wash off your picnic tablecloth..oh, yes,  you AND the birds may drink the water.  I asked up at the Rec Hall about washing our truck, and the powers that be who are “in charge” told me , and I quote, “Oh, you can wash your truck, just don’t make a lot of mud around your camper”. AAAAAAAllrighty then…that could be hard to do if you do a thorough and nit picky job, which I like to do..So, …what to do?? Should I take a chance and get out the hose, throwing caution to the wind and my ass on the line? 

THERE’S MORE THAN ONE WAY TO SKIN A CAT WASH A TRUCK!!!!

I ask you,…Do you see a hose anywhere in these photos?..Nope.  I just used the foggy moisture running down the GMC and added to it..I know..ingenious!. I could now write a book on how to wash a piggy dirty truck using a bowl of hot water, a chamois, 2 rags, a towel, and lots of sweat equity. (I know, I know, this is yet another of my fabulous ensembles from my collection…Socks and Crocks, now there’s a special look.)

Before…and After….and it only took me 2 hours, 2 wet feet, and one bump on the head from walking into the bedroom slide…(That’s when I put on my Official Steve Erwin Crocodile Hunter cap..A woman cannot accessorize enough!

 

GOTCHA!! DONNA SCORES 4 BIRD PHOTOS WITH NO WARNING TO THE READERS WHO ARE SICK OF THEM!!

That last one was taken 1/15/09 when we were here and it was flooded..OK,"Birdlady of Blogland"..What the Heck is this????

Tonight I am making a homemade pizza for dinner (with the help of Chef Boyardee)…The dilemma with this plan is that I like to prepare dinner by 4PM, so that I am in my “Happy Hour” apparel and can relax to enjoy a cocktail without donning an apron and slaving over a stove at the last minute..My problem?? If I assemble my 12” pizza ahead of time, it will be a challenge to find room in my refrig to stash it until oven time.  Not to worry, I resolved it .. after moving all unnecessary items like butter, milk, eggs, and being careful NOT to disturb my Wine decanter (Sterilite plastic pitcher), I found room for said pizza…

Had to tape a sign on the refrig door saying “OPEN CAREFULLY, SLOWLY!”..If this thing rolls out,we will be having Pizza Casserole!  The fact that I had to put a sign on the door with only McGyver and me in the Hiker is self explanatory.

I don’t wanta forget to welcome our  new found friends and lurkers/followers,  Sharon and Bill, and also another brave new soul who jumped into the truck, Jackie.  Sharon is new at blogging and you might want to check her out,  she is doing great.  Also, for those who have dogs and cats, ya gotta go to Jackie’s blog from today and check out the Dog’s Diary,and the Cat’s Diary..I laughed my butt off at the Cat’s…

OK, now… when all of you get in the truck to leave here on Jan.30th, please save all beer and pop cans for recycling, and try not to embarrass us again by giving obscene hand signals to the truckers as we pass!..10-4.

 

“Why is it when you want a nice souvenir, you find a great shell in a gift shop, but some yo-yo has affixed a ten-cent thermometer to it?” ~Erma Bombeck

The Los Ebanos Ferry..I HATE Progress!

This blog is really going to cast me as a backward, crabby, stuck in her ways old lady!..(A.K.A Maxine, as I have shown.)  Today was grocery day, so Den and I decided to drive into Los Ebanos, TX, about 20 miles further past Rio Grande City…We remembered the hand pulled ferry there that we visited in 2009.

“The Los Ebanos ferry is a part of the border that time forgot. Tucked away in the southwestern corner of Hidalgo County this crossing has existed as a popular place to ford the Rio Grande since the days of Spanish colonization.   The hand pulled ferry went into operation in the 1850’s and has seen few improvements since then. The ferry is still tethered by a thick rope tied around the base of a large Texas Ebony tree. And it’s still muscle power that propels the flat bottom barge from Texas to Mexico and back again.”

Above is how the ferry looked in January of 2009. It can carry 3 cars and 12 people.  You gotta help pull the rope if you ride along..And yes, that road on the other shore is Mexico.

 

This is the closest view we could get today…and I had to use my zoom…They are building a new customs building and changing the way you can enter and exit the ferry..IF  they are still using the ferry!!  Gosh, I hate to see this old crossing fall the wayside of border security like this, but I do understand that US security is of utmost importance. As I said, I am NOT going gentle into that good night.

The town of Los Ebanos hasn’t changed one iota, though.  It still has dirt streets, abandoned houses and a very colorful cemetery.

The Ferry Crossing sign is still there, but the store wasn’t open and looked pretty abandoned. Here is what it looked like in ‘09..

This store was closed.  This is the Ebony tree, (Ebanos), the ferry is lashed to, but we could not get near it today.

 

 

..And here is the sign telling the history of this great old Rio Grande crossing..couldn’t get near this either because it was in a “construction area”..GIVE ME A DAMN HARDHAT AND LET ME CHANNEL SOME HISTORY!!! Grrrrrrrrr!!!!!

 

This whole thing has me very upset…It’s a doggone shame great old traditions have to “change it up” to accommodate a changing and more dangerous world..OK ,I  just gotta calm down and hope they at least keep the ferry running..You couldn’t tell by just looking …and I know darn well the workers wouldn’t understand me..(I really need to learn some conversational Spanish.)  Sorry about the rant…anyone got any Valium?

So, on a lighter note, the wildlife here continues to entertain us…

Mr. Cactus Wren posed under our feeder….The deer crossed the road in front of us (at least I didn’t have to drag out my Bird Book to identify HIM!)

The ants are a never ending source of energy..You can see all the way down the 20-25’ line of ants if you look close..That bunch of trees on the left is where they are heading into the brush..They must  have some kind of internal GPS.  Not a great photo, but trust me, those orange dots are ants…My God, I AM becoming obsessed with these guys!

We passed some pretty impressive homes on Rt. 83 to Los Ebanos..Right photo is one of the huge homes being built..I guess no one has heard of the real estate crunch down here..PEOPLE!!…Can you say DOWNSIZE????

 

No, this picture on the right is not the Taj Mahal..It is the Rio Grande City Bank.  Wonder how much of our money it took to get all those inlayed tile  in that dome???

Sorry about the quality of some of these photos..McGyver thinks I am a photojournalist for the paparazzi, and can take any photo “on the fly” .  This sometimes involves me leaning out my window or smashing my lens to the glass, as we sail down the road at 65mph!!

It is now 3PM…the groceries are unpacked and repackaged so I can jam as much as possible in our freezer.  I am not taking a walk this afternoon, I am opting for a bike ride…My feet are KILLING ME!! Besides, when I am on my bike (it’s an old lady bike, with no gears and foot brakes.)  I relive my childhood on this blast from the past, racing McGyver down every hill. Going UP the hill is pretty embarrassing though. McGyver has a  mountain bike with actual gears and handbrakes.. With that kind of bike, I would either throw myself over the handlebars, or out in front of a Javelina… So what,…I feel like I can FLY LIKE THE WIND!!!!

We bade our “blog lurkers”, Sharon and Bill goodbye yesterday.  They are heading up to Ft Worth area to see family.   When we went to see them, Sharon was cooking some fabulous looking shrimp kabobs in the oven and it smelled like Red Lobster in her camper…

 

…Guess what Bill dropped off at our Hiker about 5PM?? ..a sample just for US! They WERE on a skewer when they arrived (and still hot), but in our frenzy to eat them we took the skewer out before I got a picture…Shrimp stuffed with jalapeno and wrapped in bacon…SCORE!!

Hey, Sharon…I want this recipe…..  Thanks for making our cocktail hour like a Happy Hour at a great bar with snacks!!

And thanks to all you readers for your nice compliments…Please promise not to mention how much I paid ya…

See y’all manana!

“Progress always involves risks. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.” ~Frederick Wilcox

No Hear 'EM, No Speak ‘EM, No See ‘EM…No Like ‘EM!

  The last two days we have been blessed with 85 degree days and 65 degree nights.  The sun has been bright and the sky almost cloudless.   Our campsite has been full of birds, and I have a few more interesting photos…(Those who are not fond of birds, talk amongst yourselves for a minute….)

Altamira Oriole…….                              Verdin………….                                                Olive Sparrow……

We also discovered a different critter living across the street from us…He isn’t very friendly, and seems to have this hard “shell” about him..

DUDE!! TAKE OF THE ARMOR SUIT, WE COME IN PEACE!!! He is giving me a look out of the corner of his eye…Think I better leave him to his stand offish ways…What a party pooper!

We have decided to take our walks earlier in the morning when it is this warm out…like before 10AM..If we wait too late, we are joined by the dreaded “No See’em”s, who are gnatty almost invisible black specs that sleep in late and stay up late, doing lots of biting in between…They joined me today while I was soaking up some sun…FYI, When the No See’ems land on a sweaty leg, they stick and bite, and ya gotta scrape ‘em off..OH JOY.

Here’s another delightful group who are making our “back yard” their permanent  home, and gathering from the parade they have every day, they intend to stay a while…

 

If you squint ( or adjust your bifocals) you can barely see what is called a Leaf Cutting Ant, carrying , what else, A LEAF…and one that is 6 or more times his size..Let me give you a quick Wikipedia lesson about these ambitious workers..

“Next to humans, leafcutter ants form the largest and most complex animal societies on Earth. In a few years, the central mound of their underground nests can grow to more than 30 metres (98 ft) across, with smaller, radiating mounds extending out to a radius of 80 metres (260 ft), taking up 30 to 600 square metres (320 to 6,500 sq ft) and containing eight million individuals.”…and I think we have at least that many just outside our camper. WHOA!!!

Dennis discovered these “leaf haulers” 2 days ago, when he followed the long line of them, one line going into the brush, (a distance of 30 ft,) and the other line of ants, right next to that line, was coming back, each with a piece of leaf or some other vegetation…

”In a mature leafcutter colony, ants are divided into castes, based mostly on size, that perform different functions.Their societies are based on an ant-fungus mutualism, and different species of ants use different species of fungus, but all of the fungi the ants use are members of the Lepiotaceae family. The ants actively cultivate their fungus, feeding it with freshly cut plant material and keeping it free from pests and molds.”  (these guys AREN’T pests?)  “The fungus needs the ants to stay alive, and the larvae need the fungus to stay alive  ”…Short form is..they are growing fungus to eat..kinda like farmers growing crops only without tractors..Guess what else they use in their “fungus farm”???…

  

Hope ya don’t have a weak stomach, or an aversion to 6 legged critters..Just to let you know, they totally cleaned this orange up in no time…and “are capable of defoliating an entire citrus tree in less than 24 hours”…YIKES! Welcome to the neighborhood Atta Cephalotes..(No, that isn’t Spanish for ant, it’s their scientific name!)…You’ll pardon me if I don’t bring brownies over to your house. (There IS a fungus amongus!)

When we were in Roma the other day, I noticed how many homes had walls or fences around them down here…This is due to the heavy Spanish influence dating back many, many years ago…

Some are very ornate masonry or brick and wrought iron..and some are just chain link…

The photo on the left was taken “on the fly” turning around after going down a dead end street by accident…This is not something that is very safe OR smart around here ..but McGyver and I are not known to be either .

This last one is a home on Rt. 83, almost where we turn into the park…

OK, while I was busily blogging , we had a knock at our camper door…What the H--- did I do now??  Surprise, surprise…A couple of nice folks, Bill and Sharon, read our blog and just pulled in down from us a couple spots…How about that for a shocker…Sharon said she is a “lurker”, which is defined by her as someone who reads blogs, but never comments.  She is trying to start a blog of her own and isn’t quite sure how to do it..My advice?? Just jump in and start talking..She and Bill are full timers and have a Hughesnet just like we do…

Nice to meet ya, Sharon and Bill..Please excuse my clothes, or lack thereof..(I was still in my “sunning ensemble” and probably would get arrested for it in most campgrounds.

So, this blog was a bit of a “ Biology Class” with an emphasis on bugs, ants, and armored tanks with legs….It is almost cocktail hour at the Cave Dwellings, and I am in much need of a hose down after sitting outside in the sun today. I guess Sharon and Bill are only staying a couple days here, but we will try to check in with them tomorrow…I’m hoping to change “first impressions” with an actual outfit consiting of shorts, a T-shirt and shoes…Good luck with that, right????