warm work week...

80+ for Monday and Tuesday, but it was also very windy so not too bad on the trails.  MLK day, all the paid workers had the day off, all of the non paid workers had to work! We received a call from our friend and fellow volunteer from last year in South Carolina.  He went back to Francis Marion National Forest.  We had hoped to see him last summer as he lives about 60 miles north of us in Wis. but with the new house etc.. time got away from us.

seen two javalina's on the road drinking water.. we are trying to divert this water off of the road.

there was also a cardinal on the road drinking water too..

our ride a Kawasaki Mule died a few times on Tuesday.  only once on Monday..  while we were waiting for the vehicle to decide to start I looked into the glove box..  it was holding a roll of 1/2 inch 3M 233 masking tape!   the core was 233-3 Made in the USA and the date stamped inside was 3011.  we can not remember how to read the code but we think it is probably from Nov of 1993 as Bedford Park was shut down by 2003.  it is most definitely solvent based tape, and it still works!  a bit of slivering off of the roll but you can see how bad it looks..

brought back too many memories..  all good memories... of our days in Bedford Park.

I went to a 3M Retire Luncheon about 10 miles from here.  they meet the third Wed of the month at a local restuarant.  there was about 50 people that showed up.  They are from: Hutchenson, New Ulm, St Paul Plant, a few from the center.  I did not meet everyone but it was a fun and "old" crowd.  One person was still very bitter about getting a very nice buy out in 1997!  but all in all a very nice lunch.  hope to go again next month.

we had a long day today (Thurs)  there was 13 people on the float.

we had to remove some trees and brush before we could get the canoes down to the river.

others just hung waiting for them to get the work done...

Since we can not go down the Rio Grande (because of safety issues) we drove about 1.5 hours to the Arroyo Colorado...

There was an 8 pointer sleeping on the bank..

 we did not get too far as we ran into mud!!  our trip was about 40 minutes total.  but we went for lunch at a local place, Great Hamburgers!  then to a park to scout out another site for our trips..  we have more homework to do before we can offer anything out to the public.

Brown Pelicans...

3 amigos..

all in all a great work week.  but not it is time to play!

great weekend...

Friday we went out for a 15 mile bike ride in Mission at the State Park.  the weather was a bit cool but not too windy.  had to stop and purchase an old persons seat..  need a bigger and softer bike seat. 

tried fishing at the park.. caught two logs.. lost one bobber and hook!

dinner at a local pizza joint with the other volunteers.  wsonderful time at the pizza place, good food, good beer and good company.

Saturday we had a meeting to discuss guiding canoe trips.  they used to do it down the Rio Grande but..  too dangerous so now looking at going down the Aroyllo Colorado about 90 minutes from here. will try to set up two or three trips.  Then went to the local RV show with friends Mike and Carol.  had a good time found one RV that had possibilities..

I am very happy sitting in the chair with my feet up!  love the simple things in life..

Saturday night bluegrass and Honky Tonk, left over pizza and popcorn!

Sunday was a LAZY day..  stayed in our PJ's until 11:00!  watching movies and reading..  I did work on our route home...  10 weeks before we leave here !  the afternoon was filled with bird watching, reading and more TV..    Packers and Texans did not look too good..  So we are done watching football for the year. 

hot and humid work week coming up.  we are actually going to work 4 days this week. On Thurs we are going to scout the area for a canoe trip.

Mission Texas

Windy and cool day..  we headed to Mission, about 15 miles west of here for the day.  our first stop was at

this oven baked bread etc for the local people..

the chapel..

not sure what this building is, but it looks interesting.  there was a fence with barb wire all around it..

went for a quick lunch then to the Mission Historical Museum.  One part was getting ready for a Quilt show.  the quilts they had on display were beautiful, the show does not begin until Saturday but we were alowed to walk around the room.  in another building was the actual Museum, a whole room decicated to Citrus.. big parade at the end of the month, almost looks like Winter Carnival without the snow and ice!

Eric's favorite room was the sports room. 2 famous sports figures came from Mission 

his signature moves copied by all..

and Tom Landry..

second row- middle boy

they have a huge mural right down the street from the museum..



as you can tell by the pictures it was not cloudy but very sunny but very windy..

Fort Brown

this is a retraction of what was written early on Fort Brown.  We had looked long and hard for Fort Brown, there was a big sign on the road leading us to Fort Brown.  we could not find it..  we drove around the area at least 4 times looking for more signs and the fort.  when we did not find it we assumed (we are not good at assuming) that the brick fence with barb wire on the top right on the border was it and that it was still active.  Well... we were wrong!!  looking in books etc we found out that the fort was located on the university grounds and the golf course!  there were no signs for buildings or even placards..  so here is the truth (as found on the internet)...

Although small and relatively unknown, Fort Brown in Brownsville, Texas was nonetheless important in the changing tides of history of two neighboring nations, the United States and Mexico.

The original Fort Brown, shaped from dirt on the banks of the Rio Grande River, was hotly contested in the earliest battles of the Mexican-American War, which began in 1846. Later rebuilt nearby, Fort Brown was the base for soldiers hunting an outlaw many Mexicans considered a folk hero.

When the Civil War erupted in the United States in 1861, Fort Brown again became a flash point of contention. Confederates seized control, then were ousted by the Union, only to have the Confederates recapture ownership. In fact, Confederates based at Fort Brown galloped into one of the very last, if not the final, land battles of the Civil War.

In following years, Fort Brown, rebuilt a third time in 1867, was the scene of deadly racial turmoil and medical experimentation leading to a cure for dreaded yellow fever.

Some of North America's most renown military leaders participated in Fort Brown's history, including two future United States presidents and two men destined to be president of Mexico. The famous African-American troops, the Buffalo Soldiers, were stationed at Fort Brown and the first military airplane ever fired on in battle took off from the post

Not much of the original fort remains. A national cemetery was once located on the island in the resaca; the cemetery is gone. Most of the remaining original structures are limited to the area around the Post Hospital (this is where the coordinates will put you), including its annex, a handful of officers’ quarters, the morgue, the commissary/guard house, and the cavalry building. With the old buildings inter-connected by wooden boardwalks and surrounded by lush landscaping, it’s a very pleasant area of campus to stroll around. Unfortunately, the Border Wall is designed to cut through the middle of the campus. The old breastworks of the fort are now grass covered mounds, located in the northern corner adjacent to the golf course. Here you can find an upended cannon that allegedly marks the spot where Major Brown died. Also near-by is a marker with a table indicating the location and dimensions of the original fort - earthworks with an 800-yard perimeter, 9½ feet high, six bastions, a 15-foot wide parapet wall, and a surrounding ditch, 8½-feet deep and 20 feet wide.

We never found the marker...  but we did not walk around the campus.  maybe next time we are in Brownsville..

hard weeks work..

Yea for 4G!  it started late last week and is still going strong!  it used to take between 10-20 minutes to add one picture on the blog, now it takes less than 2 minutes!

our supervisor had been off for two weeks, so we knew he had a lot of emails etc.. to catch up on so we headed out to clean some trails.  One of our bigger trails had water on it, the water pipes from the River to the ponds run right under it.  we went out to make some grooves so the water would drain off of the road. 

in the afternoon we (Eric) helped move some more of the alligator gar out of a pond..

Not too much different on Tuesday. we did see a Javalina in person, kind of close..  but I was too slow taking off my gloves, getting the camera out of the case, aiming and shooting.. so no picture.

Javelina are members of the peccary family. There are actually three species of peccaries that range from the Southwestern United States south to central South America. The only species found in the United States is the collared peccary, or javelina. In Texas, the javelina is found in the more arid or semi-arid parts of the state, with most occurring in the South Texas brush country, the Trans-Pecos' desert grasslands, and the Edwards Plateau's oak-juniper woodlands.

made chicken in the crock pot for dinner..  smells and tasted sooo good.

pretty uneventful last day of the work week.  although I did see a Bobcat (a live one) on the path about 20 feet from me. of course it took off.  Eric was on another path so did not get to see it. 

we took pictures of an animal on a log in the lake.  we assume it was dead..  (new theme emerging here, dead animals).  can't tell what it is, hopefully we can find out next week.

they don't have beavers here, our first guess.

went to Dairy Queen for a treat.  we got a $10 gift card from the White Elephant in Dec. 

80 deg today suppose to be 60 with high winds tomorrow.. our day off!!

Warm Weekend

actually in the 80's this weekend. a bit warm for here but it looks like the entire country is having a heat wave.  We are both still feeling the effects of our colds but we headed out to Harlingen, which is about 20 miles from here.

Jackson Street Market.  they hold this the first Saturday of the month.  it is about 10 blocks of crafts, antiques, food and stuff..  of course the only things we purchased was food..  Eric got a smoked beef brisket sandwich and I got beef tacos.  both were very yummy.  not too much food but enough to keep us moving.  Harlingen has about 25 murals around the city.  most were too big and blocked by cars for me to get pictures.  but here is a few...

there was a band playing 50's and 60's music, so of course there was dancing..

we felt we need a snack before heading out..

we were really hoping they had pieces of cake for sale and not whole cakes..  we split a piece of Tres Leches.  it was probably the best I ever had, and I have had a lot of Tres Leches..  

Next we headed to the Iwo Jima Memorial..

there was a museum there too but we headed out..

when we got there, we parked next to this van..  not only did it have an A/C in the window, it also had a coffee pot and 26 inch TV!  Eric tried to get a pic of the inside but the owners came just as we got out of our car.  we forgot to look at the licence plates.. 

our next stop was at:

it is a 51 acre citrus orchard.  it was suppose to have a film on the industry.. but as usual our info was way outdated.. no tours, no video but we could buy some grapefruit and oranges.. and of course we bought some of both..  very juicy and good..

we headed home..  our friend D'illa came by for a visit..

this is our satellite dish.. works pretty good..

as it is Saturday night it is Honkey Tonk and Bluegrass..

Sunday was kind of a laid back day.  we are still nursing our colds. 
watched the birds..

Green Jays..

Altamira Orioles..

we also have a Golden Fronted woodpecker hanging around and a few small birds that we have not identified yet.. 

did a bit of laundry then went out for a late lunch.  we went to a local Italian place but of course it is Sunday and they are closed!  ended up at Romano's Macaroni Grill.  food was very good, began with grilled fired artichokes hearts with garlic mayo.. it was very very yummy..  Eric had a pretty decent Ceaser salad.  Speg and Meatballs for Eric, I had the veal saltimboca..  both were good.

pecan pie for dinner tonight..

another work week starts tomorrow..