More Island Fun

In our travels, I have from time to time mentioned that there are Belt Sander Races in Port Aransas (Mustang Island) TX. Sometimes I think my comment is not believed. Well, here is picture proof of it.

 

 

The race circuit is in the back yard of The Gaff, a bar and pizza joint on Beach Street in Port Aransas. The track is 75' long and has two lanes for side by side racing of competitor's belt sanders. See, you can't make stuff like this up out of thin air. I'm guessing there were 200 to 300 spectators.

When the race official activates the light bar, it goes from red to yellow, to green. On green, the belt sanders are sent on their way to the finish line.

This is great redneck-type fun and some participants really get into it.

The guy in blue is the driver for Team Viagra 2. Their motto is "Go Hard, Or Go Home". Note that these belt sanders are not exactly like your father's belt sander.

And with all the spring winds we've had on Mustang Island the kite fliers have been out in big numbers. Like the belt sanders, these kites are not your cheapie throw-aways. It's said the difference between boys and men is the price of the mens' toys. So true.

The big crush of spring break visitors is now over. This is a view of the beach at Pioneer Park, where we are staying, on Saturday at the end of the first week of spring break. Traffic was moving slowly, to say the least.

 

We'll be leaving Mustang Island on/about April 7.

Still Enjoying Mustang Island

Our two months on Mustang Island is now down to about two weeks. It's been a great time, in spite of February being less than stellar weather. Lots of wind, some rain, and some cloudy days, but still t-shirt and shorts weather for the most part and far better than spending winter just about anyplace else in the country. One of the wonderful things about the island is that there is always something going on. I'll post a number of photos from some of the events we have attended while here.

Mardi Gras parade in Port Aransas. A good excuse for people to act crazy (and drink too much).

That's not your ordinary kind of hood ornament. It's one of the souped-up  Belt Sander  Racers. This event takes place every two weeks in one of the local drinking/eating establishments. You have to see it to believe it. Stuff like this you can't just make up.

Would you, or would you let your daughter, ride in a parade like this?

More of the same.

I don't know what it is with the bead necklaces, but it seems to be an important part of Mardi Gras.

Pat adding to her collection of beads.

And this is not all of them. Pat says our Grandgirls will ultimately get all the beads.

Son Steve came for a week. One of our day trips was to the USS Lexington in Corpus Christi.

Pat making her way through one of the passageways on the Lexington.

Steve playing tourist.

A nutria, swimming below the boardwalk at the Birding/Wildlife Refuge.

Part of the Oysterfest Parade in Fulton TX.

After the parade, we went to Charlotte Plummer's for lunch.

Pat's arm stamp at Oysterfest.

One of the vendors at Oysterfest. This is Jimmie N. Luckey, who specializes in fishing jewelry. He has an Ebay store, if you are interested. Jimmies Fishing Jewelry.

We are suckers for the funnel cake. Oil oozes out of our pores for days afterwards.

Molly, Pat, and Annie on the beach at Port Aransas.

Our house sign had faded and peeled so I repainted it and added extra signs for Molly and Annie.

Our last big event is Spring Break. It's still on-going, so I'll do another post about that later.

Mustang Island, for TWO months!

We're taking a break from gate-guarding and spending it in Port Aransas, Texas - on Mustang Island. We've spent two entire winters here previously, and like the area and, usually, the weather. Even at its worst, the weather here is far better than just about any you'll find "up north".

Mustang Island is one of the barrier islands along the Texas Gulf Coast, about half-way down the Texas side of the gulf. It's long been a fishing haven and winter warm spot for snowbirds.

This area is about 4 miles south of Port Aransas, looking south.

Each winter we see these large man-o-war type jelly fish.

Not all fishing is done from boats. A lot of people have good luck just casting from shore.

No, that's not his bait. It's a thow-back bait stealer.

Pat having an encounter with a Brown Pelican.

Brown Pelican on the jetty. They will watch you!

Casting a net for bait fish.

White Ibis on jetty.

White Ibis, catching a wave.

At Market Day in Goliad, Texas. Open air market the second Saturday of each month, year around.

Looking the goods over in Goliad.

 

Our travel companions in Goliad: Al & Donna Rich, Tom & Ann Bowers, and us, Pat & Dave. The Rich's are from Colorado; the Bowers from Iowa. We were companions the two previous winters we spent in Port Aransas and have resumed our relationship after being in California the past two winters.

 

Watch this space for future postings from Mustang Island.

Tilden, Texas

We've been parked at an oil well gate just a couple of miles out of Tilden, Texas since last October 2. It's been a stable time for us - no travel, other than for groceries and shopping, plenty of time to work on personal stuff like, for Pat, quilts, afghans and other sewing projects; for David, mostly finishing a family history document that has been several years in the making, and quite a lot of reading.

This "quiet" time is rapidly coming to an end as we will be pulling up stakes around February 1 and going to Port Aransas, Texas (Mustang Island) for a couple of months. We'll be staying at Pioneer Park about 4 miles south of Port Aransas. Pioneer Park has boardwalk access to the Gulf of Mexico beach. We're looking forward to that. We have a whole list of places to go, things to do, and people to see during our two months in Port A. That list will surely include at least one trip to Mexico for shopping and picking up meds.

When we end our vacation around April 1, we'll be going back to work as gate guards once again. This next period should be in the Fort Worth, Texas area. We've requested that area and the company owner has told us that will happen.

Major change in our lives - virtually noone will notice anything different - is that we are now Texas residents. Yup, drivers license, vehicle registration, concealed carry permit, voter registration, all in Texas now. We've had the Texas address since 2008 but called ourselves Winter Texans and continued to travel the nation with reckless abandon. For the future, I suspect we will be somewhat limiting our travels to between Texas, Minnesota, and Illinois. Returning to Washington for anything other than a visit is probably not in our future.

The photo insertion feature is not working in Blogger at this time. I'll add photos another time when it is working.

You can tell it's been a while since our last post. Here's Annie unloading her Christmas sock.

This adorable little bird sits on our clothes line almost every day. Right outside the dining room window.

For some local color, it's hard to beat the cardinals.

 The landowner has four horses roaming on oil well ground. Pat feeds them snacks whenever they come by.

Molly opening her Christmas present. She always opens it without help.

Can you see the tension between these two? Yes, there is jealousy and sibling rivalry even among dogs.

 

Glad the photo feature is working once again. Our next post will come from Mustang Island where we will be for February and March.



We're having a fairly quiet period presently. The oil well on our site is between operations, and much of the production in the area is somewhat limited because of hunting season. We've had a few hunters but have yet to see any game taken. Still, no matter how busy (or not), we're stuck at the gate and have to rely on TV and Internet to know what's going on in the world. Got to say I'm glad the political campaign is over. Not that the results are what we were hoping for, but, oh well. We got to vote - and even got out ballots back to WA in time for election day.

 

 

No matter where we are we always do a little gardening. Our tomatoes are in 5 gallon buckets, and as of late November have already produced some ripe fruit. The sorghum (milo) is meant for the birds, but as you can see this beefer decided that it might be a decent snack. Took him about two minutes to clean out this patch.

Our links to the outside world. On left, Direct TV dish antenna; closeer, our Hughesnet dish for internet. Both work quite well. I've got to work out the issue of how to transport the Hughes dish, but I think I have it figured out and will post the solution at a later date. Don't have to move for a while, so it won't happen any time soon.

Almost every day we have a flock of wild turkeys pass by. This group numbered 36 but they weren't all packed together at one time. They were spread out over a couple hundred yards. It seemed like the end of the parade would never come, but it did and they moved on. Since we can't go very far to see things it's nice that things come to us for our entertainment.

 

 

It will soon be December - Pat has all the Christmas decorations up so our house has a Christmas atmosphere. The weather remains very mild and pleasant, there has been almost no rain, and the work is easy and quite pleasant. Kind of like wilderness camping. And the best part is that we're getting paid to do it. 

Back in Texas - for a while

As you all know, we took the month of September off and went to Illinois and Minnesota to see kids and grandkids. Now we're back in Texas for a longer haul. At least five months living off the grid at a southern Texas oil well.

We're near Tilden, Texas if you're inclined to check it on a map. Tilden is south of San Antonio. Our Direct TV dish is tuned to the SA stations as our local stations, and that works pretty well. For phone and internet we rely on Verizon. Even with our cell booster 20 feet in the air we can only occasionally "hear you now". Reception is terrible, and for that reason our updates to this blog will become even more infrequent. Right now I'm in Pleasanton TX, 35 miles north of Tilden, where we can get a decent enough signal to do some internet work. So, bear with us.

Went out yesterday morning to shut off the lights and found racoon tracks, muddy, on our outside electric oven as well as on the back door. They couldn't reach the door handle, otherwise we might have had night visitors. And, if it isn't the racoons at the door it's the coyotes. We keep a close eye on the dog girls any time they are outside, even during the day.

So, check back with us often and you might get lucky with a new posting. And, especially, let us hear from you. Thanks for looking.

One of the many deer that live where we are. Usually, they come by in groups of 3 or 4 - any time of the day, and all through the night.

Likewise with the coyotes, this is one of a pack of 4 that comes by frequently.

As you can see, the deer have no fear of our home or TV dish.