Jan 9 - Along the Coastal Bend of Texas

St. Dominic Church, D'Hanis Texas  1853

"Howdy" from the Coastal Bend of Texas.

Well, we had a quiet first week to kick off 2012. After making the move from Hondo to Rockport we settled in for the long haul... three months in one spot... and caught up with our friends and acquaintances at our Winter home away from home. For whatever reason, the RV park seems busier and more congested with big rigs than our memories from the past few years. Don't know why.

It didn't take long for Dar to get fully involved in the medical world again. After a day to set up camp here at Sandollar, and another to finish up some paperwork and pick up her schedule at the hospital, she was back in nursing action on Wednesday... Thursday too. The good news is that there appears to be a little more staffing depth this year so she hopefully won't be pulling 80 hour weeks like last year... perhaps a little balance between work and leisure.

And I'm reluctantly falling into my domestic role to help fill the gap created in Dar's absence. That's right, dish-pan hands and all, I'm trying to develop a routine of sorts to keep my arch-enemies, procrastination and laziness, from creating an out-of-control build-up of unfinished chores. Things will just work smoother if I can stay on top of it all. I'm trying... I'm really trying.

Saturday, Dar and I drove up to the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, about 35 miles north, to see how the endangered Whooping Cranes are faring with the deep desperate Texas drought. While some recent rain has helped, the "Whoopers" are struggling to find food... munching on second and third choices in the absence of their favorite blue crabs, which are a casualty of the drought. The managers of the Refuge prefer to let nature take it's course... to let the birds naturally seek out and find alternate food sources on their own... and will only dole out the Purina Crane-Chow if the situation becomes desperate.

Up in the Pacific Northwest, our Grandson Ryan accompanied his Pop and some friends to a Portland Winterhawks hockey game last week. They thoroughly enjoyed the outing. But because he, Ryan, has an indefinable way about him... a humble confidence... a magnetic charisma that draws people to him... especially people of the cheerleading persuasion... he was smothered with attention and had to escape out a side door before things got completely out of hand. Here's a photo from early in the evening that'll give you a sense of what he had to deal with.  Poor guy.

Grandson Ryan with a few of his 'groupies".

And finally, I'm including a link to a short video produced by a friend of ours, Mike Fousie. Mike is a fulltimer RVer who is particularly talented with a camera. While volunteering along the Oregon coast this past summer he shot this video. I found it interesting... moving... and thought I'd post a link to it here. Hope you enjoy. Click here for Mike's video "Sacred Journeys".

Another update next Monday... or before if something comes up.