Day 63-Mon, 2 Mar 09-S. Padre Island

Photos: Tip: click on each photo to fill screen & bksp to return to blog. 1-Roseate Spoonbill. 2. Great White Heron. 3. Great Blue Herons in the bay & probably half that many again. 4. Snowy Egret.

It's been a great couple of days, both sunny, one warmer than the other. Sunday was much cooler than we've had but a nice break. We lounged and I organized clothes to determine what could be sent home and give us some extra room in the LuvMasheen.

We decided we'd take the van up to the car wash and vacumn. For those of you looking for some kind of investment opportunity...here's a hint! Buy one of those 'do it yourself' car wash bays...it's a license to print money! It's a penny a second and costs $1.75 each time you want water with whatever else you've chosen, ie pre-wash, foam, etc. I lost track of the amount of times I fed 7 quarters in to that machine. Of course, the van is big so it would cost more but it was still an very expensive wash. I think the vacumn runs the same and I know we pumped a few dollars in to that thing as well.

It was just too cool for the beach so we ended up watching a Steven King marathon on TV, which I slept through a good part of, and still had an early night. I like to think I'm still getting caught up on all the naps and sleep I didn't get while we were on the road for 7 weeks.

We were up early and after not getting to the nature walk for 3 days, I was keen to see 'what was new'. I was out the door by 8:15 and had a list of things I wanted to get, including packing material from Walmart which requires a drive across the bridge to Port Isabel. When I arrived at the nature walk, there were already a few BWs there with their Swarovsky scopes, and as soon as I got half way down the boardwalk, I saw a pair of beautiful pink Spoonbills. One is much brighter than the other and I'm not sure if the lesser pink one was the female (I think so) or a juvenile. Very pretty and I'm looking forward to seeing them in Florida when we visit the Everglades.

Of course there was lots of egrets and herons, in all sizes and colours, and I have to admit I never get tired of looking at them and trying to get better and better photos. I've been practicing panning...following the birds in flight without getting a blur...and got a few today I was really pleased with..including the one above of the Snowy Egret. The pelicans are always around for practice and they are also fun to watch when they plow in to the water to get a fish.

When I got tired of taking photos of the Spoonbills, and the sun had moved enough to look through the lens more eastward, I realized that what I thought was posts in the water (perhaps part of an old pier) was actually herons...about 15 of them all standing in the water. I've never seen that many at one time, in one place.

By the time I finished there, went over to Walmart, and made a re-visit to the boardwalk, I had been gone over 6 hours. I knew Wayne would be wondering where the heck I was and as I pulled out on to the road to go home, there he was, walking in to the convention centre. It has to be a good 2 miles from the condo so I'm guessing he was hoping I was still there as he would have had quite a trek home again. I took him to the Pirates Cove for supper as a reward for 'finding' me.

I took over 300 photos today and at some point I got to start getting them organized. I try to delete as I go, getting rid of the obvious boo-boos but I've learned over the years that I shouldn't be too quick to delete. It's probably a good job for when we are on the road and don't have good internet access.

Not sure what the rest of the week will bring...it goes fast enough. We've got 12 more days here until we must leave...where did the time go? Sunday night when we phoned Ty he said, "Come and visit me Honey--come today, not tomorrow, okay?" Until next time, our love to you all.xx