Canoe ride and the Green Backed Heron

we went looking for another route for our canoe trips for the public.  the wind was up, mostly cloudy and a little rain but we went forward on our quest for a suitable route to offer the public.

someone on shore had a fish, we don't know what it was but it looked good!

we found a Green Backed Heron entangled in some fishing line.  Dave S. was our hero!  He freed the bird from the line.

not sure if it will make it but we gave it a chance.

stopped for lunch, the guys had burgers, I had a shrimp sandwich.   very very good!  the burgers looked good too.

Mexico and bike ride

Went to Mexico on Sunday with 4 other volunteers.  We bought some tiles for the sauna and some Mexican candy.  the others bought booze!  might look next time to get some brandy.

we stopped for lunch:

tacos, tamales, enchilada, rice and beans.

I ordered a Michalada..  Jerry orderd a dark beer...

looks like I ordered the correct drink!  not sure why he got a small glass.

Eric went for a bike ride after lunch.  had to take pictures of all of the fields..

palm trees...

this field has not been planted yet..

Sweet onions are ready to harvest. 

they bring water from the river to a canal in order to irrigate..

a freshly planted field..

this is freshly ground up cabbage!  (Dirt Slaw) it is right outside of our compound, and it stinks!!

Eric rode by a Cow that was laying on the ground, the other cows were standing around looking at it.  It was making noise and having convulsions.. he assumed it was dying! 
a half hour later he came back and if you look closely you can see the calf nursing!!

Eric is not the farmer he would like to be..  always something new to learn.

Smokin on the Rio

mesquite firewood..

cattle roping..

electric cooler??  check out the spurs..

Beer can chicken..

Smokin Gun...

time to judge the ribs..

our table tested 14 different entries.  scoring was on aroma, visual, texture, taste and over all.. 

there was about 130 entries total for the ribs.  score was on a 1-10 scale with 10 being the highest.  I did not give out any 10's.  a few 8's and one 2.   Eric was a bit more generous with his scoring.

they also had Chicken, Beans, Fajitas and Brisket.  we did not judge any of those.  we did get to walk around and sample a lot of the food right off of the grill.  It was a very fun day, but the weather was cool and overcast.

there was music and a bit of dancing too!

It seems like every yard has a smoker.  maybe next year I will need to strap mine on the back of the trailer!  would love to be a team member at a cook off. 

Cowgirl boots!

finally after 10 years of looking for boots I found some I like..

they are actual pretty comfortable.

need to get some skinny jeans to fit inside the boots!

Beach time..

we headed to Boca Chica State Park, which is located about 70 miles from here.  it is on the Gulf of Mexico.  nothing there but beach..  no facilities.  lots of people fishing but we did not see anyone catch anything.  the weather was cool, windy and overcast.

on our way there we stopped at:

two of our volunteers were there putting up signs, so we stopped to lend a hand.. before heading to the beach.

I am standing in Texas, the water to the right is the Rio Grande, the land further right is Mexico and the white caps behind me is the Gulf of Mexico! 

this light house is in Mexico..

same scenario with the truck, Gulf, Rio Grande, Mexico and Texas...

beautiful flowers everywhere..

ID'ed a few birds too!

stopped at another State Park on the way back home..

we took a little walk then the tram ride around the park.  will come back with our bikes next time.  great place to see wildlife and enjoy the outdoors! 

been looking at photo blinds.. like this one the best so far!

long day but so much fun.  tomorrow is suppose to be cool and maybe rain!

Spring has Sprung!

Everything is getting so green.  Of course that means the bugs are out in force too! This week we did our usual trail clean up, lots of branches down because of the high winds on Sat.

a little time birding..  We did ID 3 more birds this week.

We also helped dig out invasive grass from a new butterfly garden and spent Wed weeding at the reveg area. 

we had so many weeds that they had to use a tractor to move them!

this is the manager of the Reveg area.. all broke out in song.. Green Acres!

the reveg area has a few freezers full of seeds....

it was very hot and humid so we only lasted about 4 hours before quitting.  might have to go back next week to do a bit more time weeding!  wish Cousin Rose was here to help.  she loves to weed!

Sunday Feb 19

don't feel too bad after yesterdays ride.  our necks are a bit sore, between the weight of the helmet and holding onto the handle bars a bit too tight. 

went to two birding places today, did not log any new birds!  we will have to try a bit harder this week.

we did get a comment on our restaurant reviews..

"Are you excluding information about the restaurants where you didn't like the food? Seems like all food reports are possitive, and that really doesn't seem realistic.. Just sayin."

I suspect others have the same thoughts?

Well.. we take our food very seriously. Life is too short to waste calories and time on bad or medicore food!  I spend a lot of time researching restaurants. I try to pick places that have at least 10 reviews and is in the top ten for the area. 

sometime luck is on our side and others it is not. Well today was one of those days where we hit a very good restaurant by luck!  I did research some places to go for lunch but did not have the correct city!  I thought we were heading East but we went North.

found a place where the parking lot had a lot of vehicles and they were all nice vehicles ( I always look at the cars in the parking lot, it helps me decide if I want to go inside).  If the parking lot is empty or has a bunch of beat up old cars, I don't go in.  I know I might be missing a great place but...

Trevino's Restaurant in Edinburg was really good.  we ordered Parrilladas for two.  basically grilled meats.  ours had chicken, beef, pork chops, sausage and we think goat.  the meat was all cooked to perfection. very tasty and moist.

homemade corn tortillas along with rice, beans and guacamole.  This place is worth a repeat visit.

we have had food that was tastless, I don't recall ever having bad food, we have had some that was not really good and we were disapointed. 

The Big Bike Ride

Harlingen Texas:  Jalapeno 100 bike ride.  Of course we had rain and wind!  lots of wind.  started out at 6:00 am with 8 mph, by the time we took off at 7:45 the wind was up to 16 mph by the time we finished 28 miles the wind was at 22 mph with wind gusts up to 31 mph.  needless to say we did shorten our ride, I think just about everyone did.  it took us about 3 hours total time, with about 20 minutes for breaks to do the 28 miles. 

Normally the winds come from the south, so they plan the route so you are going into the wind on the first part so that the wind is at your back on the last part.  well.. mother nature felt we needed a little character building!  the wind was from the North and East, at least 20 miles we rode into the wind or at least it was coming at us from the side. 

here we go...

our first rest stop..  (really only came for the food!)

after 3 hours and 28 miles in the wind and rain.  we don't look too bad!

the sun came out about 15 minutes after we finished.  and the winds picked up too.  a stop for Mexican food and a walk around the flea market before heading back for a much needed nap.

we had fun, and although the wind put a damper on our plans it was fun riding together for the whole route.  hope to do it again next year!