New House Update

Things are moving along with our new house. 

The previous owner of the house was a single male.  Apparently, he wasn’t a big fan of cleaning and told his realtor that he wasn’t going to clean the house before showing it.  So, the first thing we did was hire a cleaning crew.

The cleaning ladies (and man) did an amazing job inside the house and today they are finishing up the outside windows.

We are having the entire inside painted.  This task is not going as quickly as we had hoped.  After one and a half days of painting then taking 3 days off, they received a few carefully worded phone conversations with Mark.  But, three guys showed up today and were busy painting so, hopefully, things will progress. 

The fence guy started today - a day early - yea!  We are having part of the back area fenced.    

Fencing is mandatory if you want any landscaping.  

We’re having an 8’ tall fence installed because of these bad boys ---

Blackbuck Antelope (native of India, Nepal, and Pakistan - NOT native of Texas!).  Males are about 33” at the shoulder and weigh an average of 84 pounds.  Females average about 60 pounds.  Their long, ringed horns (not antlers) can be up to 30” long and are usually only on the males although the females may develop horns.

We also have Axis Deer (native of Southern Asia - NOT native of Texas!).  Males are about 35” at the shoulder and females are about 28”. Males weigh 66-165 pounds while the females are 55-100 pounds. Antlers (not horns) are only on the males. 

And last, we have White-tailed Deer.  Texas is home to the most white-tailed deer of any U.S. State or Canadian province.

Our realtor gave us a little gift after signing.  A pretty fall silk flower arrangement and a large gift card to a local Mexican food restaurant.

We have a couple more projects that are supposed to be started next week.  

Stay tuned for more updates. 

Una Casa Nueva

Front of house.

Back area. (5 acres)

This has been an interesting year for us (and everyone else).  With a surgery for each of us and being off of the road for all of 2020 with COVID, we were finding that our 400 sf park-model home was feeling a little cramped. Plus, our RV park is up for sale, and who knows what the future will bring with regards to that. 

We started looking at homes in this area (on the internet), and found a perfect home on a 5-acre wooded tract, about two miles from where we are now! We looked at it a couple of times, made an offer, and closed this morning.

We are scheduled to volunteer again in November and are looking forward to that, and we hope to resume our "typical" travels when things return to normal. But when the time comes to throttle our RV travels back, we've got our next place all worked out. 

A New Visitor to the Game Cam

We still run the game cam every night, but things have gotten predictable.  A ridiculous number of deer, a few mischievous raccoons, and a rabbit or armadillo once in a while.  

But last night we got our very first coyote. We know that they are around because we hear them yipping and yapping at night. But they don't seem to come into the immediate area of the houses very often. 

We see foxes more regularly. Teri saw a couple of kits (baby foxes) earlier this summer, but all we've  had at the game cam is adults. Check out that 64 degree temperature. Brrrr!!

We think that this Armadillo has taken up residence under our back deck. It enjoys digging around the backyard area for grubs and other treats. They don't see well and often we "surprise" each other in the evening when I take down the bird feeders. 

Our bucks are really growing their antlers out, and should be shedding their velvet soon.  

Occasionally they step on the birdbath and spill all of the water out. 

And we have more than enough raccoons!  They seem to specialize in tearing things up.  Last night, they managed to crack the Rubbermaid pitcher that we use to fill the birdbath. 

A couple of adults had a spat the other night. The result was an empty birdbath with the fountain lying in the dirt. Great...

We hope that our friends are staying safe and happy. Fall is on the way!!

2005 - Way Back Wednesday (Part 3 of 3)

In 2005 we entered several 5K and 10K runs (5K - Teri; 10K - Mark).  During the spring and fall there are several runs every weekend.

In October we went to LaGrange, Texas to run in the Best Little 10K in Texas.

Mark came in 3rd place in his catagory! 

November is nice and cool in Texas and, just like the year before, we spent Thanksgiving in one of our favorite places - Goose Island State Park in Rockport.

Our site.

Aransas National Wildlife Refuge is a great day trip from Goose Island.  It is a 115,324 acre protected area along the Gulf Coast. 

There are always plenty of alligators to find.

 Birds are easy to find.

 

It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without a trip on the Skimmer with Capt. Tommy.

We have an early morning departure.

 

We always see Whooping Cranes.

Whooping Crane family.  

The brownish ones are the youngsters.

 Sandhill Cranes are abundant on the Whooping Crane Tour. 

Sandhill Crane

We always come across a pod of Bottlenose Dolphins.  They like to play in the wake of the boat. 

Short video.  

It's very loud so you might want 

to turn your sound down.

 

There are plenty of birding hotspots on the Texas coast.

Long-billed Curlew

Great Egret

Roseate Spoonbill

 

Loggerhead Shrike

In December all of our (Mark’s) hard training was put to the test.  We entered the Decker Challenge 1/2 Marathon (Mark) and the Deck the Halls 5K (Teri). 

Mark in the middle of the picture with the white hat.

It was a great way to end a very busy year!

Hope you enjoyed re-visiting 2005 with us.

2005 - Way Back Wednesday (Part 2 of 3)

 *** More pictures from our life in 2005 ***

In June, Travis County Audubon offered a class on dragonfly identification with Professor John Abbott at the University of Texas.

Netting Dragonflies

The nice thing about studying dragonflies and damselflies is that you can net them and put them in a clear bag for observation.

Bluet

Texas has 160 species of dragonflies, nearly half of the 327 species known in North America.

Mark bought a net and we had a lot of fun studying the dragonflies and damselflies around our house.

Four-striped Leaftail

Red-tailed Pennant 

Of course, there are other interesting things to look at while chasing dragonflies: 

July is always a good month to get out of Texas.  Before retirement we almost always headed to Ruidoso, New Mexico during the week of my birthday.  The higher elevation temperatures were very comfortable.

We stayed in a couple of different campgrounds through the years but in 2005 we were at the Southfork Campground in the Lincoln National Forest in Nogal, New Mexico.  Unfortunately, this campground was wiped out during a fire that was started by lightening in 2010 and is no long open for camping.

This campground was usually not very busy and we always had a great site. 

Our site. 

One thing Ruidoso has no shortage of is hummingbirds!

Without going very far from our campsite there were many hiking trails.

 

The mountain streams are very cold!

 

Lots of snow melt keeps the streams flowing, even in July.

 

Lots of pretty views from the hiking trails. 

Every flower has a bee. 

Or a butterfly. 

There are still some remains of pioneer cabins in the area.

We always put out plenty of hummingbird feeders and had no problem attracting a lot of the little guys. 

Short video of hummingbirds. 

 

They were very thirsty

Before the fire the White Mountain Wilderness area in the Lincoln National Forest was absolutely beautiful.

There were lots of places to explore. 

Plenty of beautiful, clear streams everywhere. 

Beautiful views. 

Lots of deer and other wildlife. 

More water and flowers everywhere.

 We could hike as far and as long as we wanted. 

All laced up and ready to hike.

 

We drove back through this area a few years ago.  All that remains of this lush, green forest is charred tree stumps.

Tomorrow: Running, Whooping, and Dolphins (2005 - Part 3 of 3)