Wind Sand Sculpture

Port Aransas, Texas

Repairs and modifications were the order of endeavor this morning. All good Rvs have properly sized small vents from the heating ducts into the holding tanks areas. Since an Arctic Fox trailer like Comfort Castle has all the water lines inside the living area, there is no need for exterior heating of water supply lines. My holding tanks are large for the size trailer but still could freeze if the weather is cold enough long enough. However Comfort Castle has a neat feature called wheels. They allow the movement to areas without long cold spells. The central heat wastes heat blowing it into the tank areas even when it is above freezing . The central heat has not been used since Washington was vacated a year and a half ago.

This morning was the time to block the floor vents so that vacuuming will be easier and dirt will stay out of the heating ducts that are not used. Some cardboard was cut and shaped to fit into the grill to block the airflow from the interior to the outside by way of the tank ducts This should also help save on A/C in the warmer months. The fix was like me---cheap and easy.

The second chore this morning was to reattach/relocate the latch for my cereal locker. It has gotten a little too wimpy for the roads the truck likes to travel. A slightly stouter installation and location will likely stop the door from getting too active again.

MAN this was a lot of work for a lazy bum fat old man Rver. A nap right after lunch may be needed to rest up for going to bed tonight.

One note of disappointment. The scurvy bums of the internet world managed to get my email into the mailing lists from my blog. Therefore my email was removed from the heading. Should you want to contact me, make a comment to that effect with a return email address for a response. Since the comments are moderated before publication, your email will not get out into the normal sight of the sorry garbage head solicitors.

For lack of anything else to do, a trip to look specifically at wind sand art at the state park beach was made. Now that they were particularly paid attention to, several different styles were noticed. Included here are several different examples of the sculptures.

Notice how the grass causes the wind currents to make odd shapes in the sand below.
This one was about three inches high is all.
These were furrows cut into the sand at the base of a dune.
These were on the near verticle face of a dune. They were about a foot long , two inches wide and an inch high out of the face of the dune.

They were mostly found by walking very close to the dunes, but in the looser sand on the beach side. A couple of exploratory trips were made into the backside of the dunes. Nothing of note was seen on the backside. The walk was about a mile one way and took about an hour. In reality there was a lot more to look at than just the sand sculptures. However the task at hand was carefully accomplished.

At one spot on the beach was a bamboo cluster. Who knows where it came from other than “the sea”? Several locations along the coast have folks who grow bamboo as decoration. However let us claim that it came from a Carribean land of beauty and wonderment.

Entwined with the root system were these shells of an unknown origin. If a reader happens to know something about them please post a comment. The shells were very pretty and colorful. The picture does not come anywhere close to the brilliance of the actual coloration of the shells. They actually looked a lot like irridescent butterflys all gathered together.

And for the grand finale tonight we have a nice picture of a dune scene that evolved during one of the backside adventures. Dune scenes have always been a desirable joy in my life.
Another month of life has been ripped off the calendar now. There are too many things to see and do and too little life to do it all.

For the first year my plan was to stay at a place about a month and take day trips of up to one hundred miles each way. My records on using that style indicates that that is not the most economical method. This year of 2009 will see Comfort Castle moving shorter distances more often. The clover leaf travel radius will be shortened as much as possible. Hopefully camping will be close to each location of interest. It appears that the extra fuel cost to roam so far from Comfort Castle far over rides the cost of camping closer to the locations of interest. My information seems to lean toward that the trips back to Comfort Castle are what runs the cost up.

With that in mind, the team will be pulling out of Port Aransas on February 5 toward the next location. Where will that be? We can find out together while trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Pier Fishing

Port Aransas, Texas

In response to an inquiry about the wind sand sculpture. They have been seen this month as tall as two feet and as long as twelve feet. They are mostly under a foot tall and three feet long and last a couple of hours before wind erosion takes its toll. An hour of elapsed time can mean a whole different appearing work of art.

The other thing watched for carefully along the beach is an unbroken sand dollar. Many pieces are spotted, but not any whole ones yet. It turns out they are interesting creatures from what the internet searches found out.

Down at the state park bayside slough the water has come in a nice amount. In the picture below, all the water showing was a muck flat for the last two weeks. There was even bait fish running around in the new inflow. This is a good sign.

This evening a ride was done to Charlie’s Pasture pier to see what was going on. After walking around a bit, these two fellows and all their gear finally gave up and left the pier.
A bit later two more fellows showed up from Minnesota. In a couple of minutes they were catching small fish. After a half hour my rod appeared in my hands as if by magic. The bait called Fish Strips by Berkley was the bait of choice for me. It worked very well. Two croakers, one sand trout, and many many perch of various sizes were caught on the one piece of Fish Strips. None of the fish were large enough to keep, but it was wonderful to finally have some fish back inshore to catch. Catching them on light tackle was even more fun. By the time it was dark the temperature was down to the mid fifties headed to the mid thirties.

Earlier in this evening, a neat picture was taken. A few blogs ago was about the purple barnacle found on the beach. As luck would have it there were some growing on the pier pilings in view. Notice also a couple of small fish in this picture.
The way this weather is misbehaving with all this miserable cold garbage, it must be an amen to head farther south into the sunshine and warmth. However it is not desirable to get down into the Rio Grande Valley with the couple of million snowbird travelers that are there for the winter. The congestion in that place in the winter is worse than Houston and quitting time on a Friday. Me. My preference is somewhere less congested to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Pepitos

Port Aransas, Texas

A morning of searching for warm weather on the West Texas future was in vain. After checking my records on the blog, it was certain that this winter is running too far into February. There is even freezing temps predicted for the hill country next week. Last year by then it was staying above forty on the cold nights. So the summation of the research is who knows where Comfort Castle will be spending the night after Feb. 4. Maybe something will happen to chose for us.

This afternoon a walk on the beach appealed to me. The view from the truck where it was parked looked pretty nice.


However the temperature was 53 outside and the wind was very strong. Upon embarking on the walk, a lot of powdered sand blasted my skin painfully. The powdered sand got into my clothes and on my skin. This was nasty conditions.

The wind was carving all sorts of art sculptures in the sand and dunes. This is one cute piece of wind work about six inches tall.

The conditions were too unpleasant to stay out very long. Soon the truck was headed home.

Finally tonight my frustration with finding locations warm enough to visit led me to run over to the mainland to a restaurant that usually has good food. Tonight the cook was in good form and the food was very well prepared. Pepitos is on Business 35 on the north edge of Aransas Pass. It is on the left side of the road when headed north toward Rockport.


After a nice ferry ride home, the lazy old fat man mode kicked in. Now being tired will not be an excuse to put off trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Grab And Gulp

Port Aransas, Texas

A morning of shopping at Wal-Mart was interesting. There has been a run on items needed around Comfort Castle. It took going to three different Wal-Marts to get most of the things needed. The new calculator cost less than $10 drive out when it was finally in stock at the Rockport Wal-Mart. Since it was lunch time, the nearby oriental buffet place was the choice for dining. The food there is decent but not fantastic. A reasonable value is a good way to describe it.
There is a sea gull that supervises the ferry landing number one on the Aransas Pass side from a dolphin. Every time a crossing is made that same bird seems to be there. It has a funny “kink” in one knee, so it seems likely to be the same bird.

Later while walking the jetties, it was obvious that the human fishermen were not having any luck at all. In over an hour out on the jetty, there was not fish harvested by the humans. One human even decided to take it very easy.
In the world of non-human fishers the story was a lot different. There was a pair of pelicans that were eating very well. They were first noticed as they patrolled the jetty on the seaward side.
They slowly made their way to the rock area. Then they split up and went to work. Here is one of the hunters on the prowl.

They paddled along with the front inch or so of their beak in the water most of the time. Their path was so close to the rocks that they would occasionally bounce off a rock. Then suddenly a strike would happen. It was very quick. The beak would stay under the water for a long time. Look carefully and you can see the beak under the water.
After the beak was brought up above the surface, the swallowing process would begin.
One time whatever the pelican had caught was fighting back. The catch could be seen crosswise in the pelican’s pouch struggling mightily. However the pelican eventually got it headed the correct direction and swallowed it.

Another time the pelican caught a large ribbon fish. When the pelican brought it up, at least half of the ribbonfish was hanging out of the pelican’s beak. The ribbon fish was thrashing the pelican about the head and neck with enough force to knock the pelican’s head noticeably. It was quite a battle for at least a minute before the ribbonfish was able to knock the pelican loose and swim for it. That was actually fun to watch.

During the time that the hunting was watched, the pelicans were having great success at catching something around the rocks. It seemed that at least every other strike resulted in swallowing some catch. It was a surprise to me that no other birds of any type came over to participate in the feed. On top of that it seems that the two pelicans were of different species from each other.

Out on this jetty one has to be careful of waves breaking onto the jetty. When a larger than usual wave is coming toward you, it makes a distinctive “whispering or whistling” sound. When you hear it the first time, you will never forget it. When you hear it the first thing is to move away from it if possible. Look to see what is coming after you are moving. Well, during the pelican photo shoot, that “interesting” sound caught my attention and motivated a couple of rock crossings away and a glance back. My camera was quick enough to catch the last splash. Notice the wet area on the jetty surface where a certain old fat man had been standing.

Now it has all been reported like a good little blogger. Hopefully tomorrow will include some catching but no muck dancing while trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Muck Dancing

Port Aransas, Texas

WOW It was laundry day and the excitement was overwhelming again!!!! After waking late and napping as much as my bladder could stand, it was time to roll out of bed. The good part of my bed area is that there are walls on three sides of the bed and a narrow gap just big enough for my legs between the back of the couch and the mattress on the other side. That way no matter how much you try to stagger around, you cannot fall down.

Finally breakfast was finished and emails were done and everything else possible to do to put off doing laundry was done at least twice. Laundry is not really a big chore, but motivation of a fat body is a big deal. No one was in the way at the laundry room and in only an hour and a half the clothes were clean and put away.

A few items keep turning up needing replacement like my calculator. So a list of not normal things that need to be replaced or purchased was started. But suddenly for some odd reason my mind turned to fishing again. So off to do some fishing we went. During the night the tides had started coming back in. The water was now only about two feet low. This seemed promising.

Wilson’s Cut seemed to be the best protected spot from the winds. After trying my luck at a few spots along the way out to the end of the cut, this spot was chosen to be the final place. The thin water across the channel in the background drains out into the channel through the opening visible in the right side of the picture.

It is a very pretty area. Another good sign is all the bait fish running around in the water. It has been over a week since bait fishes have been present. So on with the mucking boots for the third time and get after dem feeshees. The shoreline was a little soft but manageable-----I thought. After a couple of hours of catching nothing but grasses, it was time for a rest.

As a turn was made to go back to drier land three feet away, my left foot found a spot of very soft mud. My foot disappeared into the muck about ¾ of the way up my mucking boot. My balance took off and left me for other places. My right foot stuck in place for a moment then released with a forward lunge. Splat it came down on a firmer spot and sank about three inches. Meanwhile the rest of me is trying desperately to stay upright and not fall face first in the muck. Another desperate lunge and my left foot came out of the mired boot.

Now my left foot sock is all there is between any broken glass or razor sharp oyster shells and me going swimming in muck uglier and more stinky than a wet pig pen. Fortunately the spot my left foot landed only sank about a half inch into the muck. Upright balanced was again in my possession. However to retrieve my left boot seemed to be an untidy job. Again my luck held out. A spot for my sock foot that was firm and allowed me to reach the left boot for retrieval was found.

YEA no muck swimming for me this time. Here is the site of the muck dancing event. It will be a miracle if there are not extra sore parts of my body in the morning.


The whole dance happened in a distance of only about three feet. It is not my idea of the best way to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Sub-Tropical Texas

Port Aransas, Texas

After many hours of driving around in the south Texas brush country, the truck finally took me home well after dark. At least there was not any cold wet wind when we arrived back at Comfort Castle. Large areas of that part of Texas have been examined closely. This was the last of several exploratory trips in the area. Lots and lots of legal camping locations and commercial campgrounds have been visited. When it all came to a close at dark the decision was no thank you to that area for me.

It is not a bad area at all, but it does not hit me as especially good for my lifestyle. This pretty well rules out the area south of a line from Eagle Pass to Corpus Christi for my future travels. There are no good reasons, just not my style of area. Corpus Christi is not included in that area. Corpus is a place that has given me much enjoyment and will continue to do so.

One thing about the area is very positive. EVERYONE that has spoken with me during the trips to that area has been super friendly and pleasant. The food has been well prepared and good flavored. So if you have never been in the area, it is recommended for a nice experience on many counts. The Rio Grande Valley ( in the lower section) in particular is sub-tropical and an experience all of its own. South Padre Island has it’s own special charms well worth experiencing if you haven’t in the past.

This leaves me with wondering where my next travels will take me in the quest of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Miserable Cold Wet Wind

Port Aransas, Texas

The overcast day, cold temperatures and miserable wet wind really put a DAMPer on the days activities. This morning worked out well to get the regular oil change and lube for the truck done. The truck even got a new air filter in preparation for a trip into dusty Big Bend NP.

Then grocery shopping at the same Wal-Mart finished easily and the truck was back at Comfort Castle before noon. The main part of the afternoon was spent researching where to go when we leave this campground (Resort?????).

Finally in the mid afternoon my brain turned on and said to go to the educational attraction near the jetties. Good idea. Something to do outside. Into the thermal underwear and sweaters and coat and away we went.

It turns out this is a loop with stations to educate the visitor on coastal wet lands. It also turned out to be so such a miserable cold wet wind outside that pictures were taken in a hurry. At one station there was some incredibly nice folks from Iowa with a super friendly Bichon pup for me to pet. We talked some and maybe my information will help them have a better time in the area. A warmer day would have been fantastic.

After parking in the lot near the laboratory, you can walk up the stairs and have this view over to the exhibits.

As you wander down the hill to the exhibits, this is the overall view you can enjoy.
Since my shivering from the miserable cold wet wind got in the way of reading and viewing, tonight is mostly a parade of some of the signs along the way. Click to enlarge them and you should be able to read them.



Now we are at the small outdoor auditorium with the innovative shade screen for the seating area. Heat lamps would have collected a crowd today.
Onward to the next signs in the miserable cold wet wind.


This picture above is about the between the dunes mini eco systems. These mini eco systems are scattered all along the Texas coast. The little pockets of “fresh” water is what keeps the critters alive and nourished in the salt marsh. At this spot the dune was partially blocking the miserable cold wet wind so an extra three seconds were spent here.

These next three signs were in the wide open for the cold wet wind to slice the life out of you.

By now it was time to get back into the warmth of the truck. There were more places to see about in future trips. Many more opportunities for neat photos, but not in this miserable cold wet wind. Plan on seeing more about this place in the future.

Did it get mentioned that today had a miserable cold wet wind? But even that was not enough to stop me from trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Some Buildings

Port Aransas, Texas

A very early start this morning toward a big adventure was aborted mid morning by severe stomach cramps. When a return to Comfort Castle was made, there was very little activity the rest of the day.

Here are some pictures of a few buildings that have been sitting on the sidelines until a time like today and tonight came along.

Two universities here in Texas have some facilities for doing who knows what. The first one is by Texas A & M and is a very nice looking place.
The next is a facility with University of Texas brand on the front for doing the rest of who knows what.

Across the street from the campground is a fishing charter place. Next door is a restaurant of a special sort.

The restaurant serves the regular public as well as those who provide their own main course.

At the public use areas around town are facilities provided by the municipal government. This particular set of facilities is down by the pier at Charlie’s Pasture. A rather unique way to dress up the facilities in my opinion.


This is about all that can be reported today as it was not a good day for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

A Walk In The Wild Side

Port Aransas, Texas

This morning the wind trying to peel the decals off Comfort Castle awakened me about seven am. My thought was “No yaking or biking in that wind”. That was a very correct thought. That leaves long walks for a possibility down here since golf is nowhere close by.

Ok time to head to Padre National Seashore and walk the beach. Sounds like a good idea with all this wind causing the surf to pound the beach and bring in special treasures. Reality was that the wind made it miserable on the beach and a million or so snow birds were running around at Padre like they had no sense. The beaches were so chewed up from all the vehicles that my time there was limited. Dozens of couples were walking the beach ooh and awwing at birds of all sorts. How many seagulls do you have to see before they are normal?????

On the way back home, a stop at Wilson Cut was made to scope out the tides. They are even lower than the last couple of days. This is setting up for a spectacular influx of water and fish when the north wind and the moon stop this nonsense. The fish catching should be something special right after that.

One event of note. A Midwesterner in his 4X4 go anywhere jeep found out that that a Texas saltwater marsh eats go anywhere jeeps for a snack. In consideration for his delicate feelings there are no pictures of his ignoble event of getting dragged out of the mud by a winch on another vehicle. Upon examination of the place he tried to go through, my thought was that an airboat would work pretty well. But then my years as a swamp rat taught me some things of importance when driving around.

Back in this blog http://ofmadventures.blogspot.com/2008/12/ranching-in-pins.html, the ranching was shown on Padre. Today was the explore the old ranch day. After parking at the gate, the road up to the buildings was a comfortable walk in and pleasant with many nice fragrances from the vegetation. However no flowers were evident. The building and the stables are in very bad repair, but typical for the salt air environment.

A bit of looking close at the building led me to believe it is not the anywhere close to the original building. Stainless steel hinges and power saw marks on the doors are not indicative of the early 1900’s. The road to the shack continues toward the dunes, so my feet naturally had to follow it to see what is out there.
The road led on into the dunes you see in the back ground. After winding around some, the park mowing ceased. But my experienced eyes could see the old road path on up into the dunes. There was a huge accumulation of evidence of rodent activity in the dune. Consequently a very considerable amount of attention was paid to the area of my walk to prevent disasters of the rattlesnake variety. A six foot long and three inch diameter rattler is nothing unusual in the dunes.

When the dune of choice rose in front of me, a path of less brush was chosen up to the top. This view was my worthwhile reward.
As my senses were marveling at the wonderful view and thinking not many folks come up here, my eyes caught the sight of a cut off metal signpost at the top of the dune. What would that sign have said??? Any way another path was chosen for the return to the ranch road. As my shoes carried me back, it occurred to me how wonderful this is as a way to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Stinky Beach

Port Aransas, Texas

My fingers ache, my shoulder aches, my entire right side aches. Several fishing lures are half the size they started out this morning. The erosion from being retrieved so many times through the water wore them down. For all this effort the result is not even one bite. These super low tides have run all the fish out into the Gulf. Four different places were fished in great detail.

At least some new education came out of today. Over at Goose Island State Park is Stinky Beach. Today a picture of Stinky Beach is available for my readers.


The park service even put up a sign to explain the situation. In case you need to know, it really does stink enough to send a septic tank running.


Getting back to Comfort Castle at a little after 5 pm and whopped to a fat man puddle means supper will be VERY SIMPLE and the blog short. It can be very exhausting work trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Wilson Cut

Port Aransas, Texas

A lot of fishing and no catching today, drat. Wilson Cut was the location of the first stop. It was a new location for me and fairly close to Comfort Castle. As you drive in through the pasture toward the water, the remoteness only a quarter mile from the highway is very noticeable. There was a yakker getting ready to head out from the opposite shore. He got going finally and very soon was out of sight.

Where the truck was parked seemed like a good spot to practice with the new rod. It works very well, but is slightly heavier than the previous one. My right shoulder can speak authoritatively about that fact.

My luck was holding, because a very nice young man drove up to go fishing. He is a relatively new transplant from San Angelo, Texas. Being a biology student is his job for now and fishing is his game. Kyle was a wonderful fellow to visit. He mentioned where he had caught several fish in the past at this area. Now that might be a good place to try tomorrow.

He is ready for some serious wade fishing. It turned out he has the same rod as the one recently purchased by some old drooling fat man at Wal-Mart. Kyle tells me that it is a very tough rod.
After about an hour more of thrashing the water to a froth, the Packery Channel was calling me.

A ten minute drive and the channel was at my truck’s front tires. There was not much fish catching going on there either. A walk out to the end of the jetties yielded this nice shot.


Since it was 5:30 pm when my meander got back to the truck, home was the next stop. This afternoon was a good one for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Purple Barnacle

Port Aransas, Texas

The maintenance folks had to come mop around where the fishing rods are displayed TWICE while the rods were being fondled by some old fat man. Drooling when around new fishing gear is an uncontrollable problem for me. After a long while, a new rod was chosen. For those who know fishing gear it is a seven foot two piece spinning UGLY STICK for 8-17 pound line. This is the next step stiffer than my current rod. Texas saltwater fish are naturally larger so a stronger rod is needed for them. It proved to be excellent in performance casting.

A few other supplies were purchased at the Wal-Mart and off to home we headed. The fried chicken that had been purchased demanded that a stop at Lighthouse Lakes park be made for lunch. That sure sounded good to me. There is a fantastic pleasure to eating out in a natural area designed by GOD. The water is extremely low. Most of the “land” you see here is normally covered in two to three feet of fishable water.

A fellow was across the channel fishing on this beautiful day. He did not catch a fish while lunch was being eaten. His location was perfect for trying to have fun, don’t you think?

This shot is the side of the channel where my feet leave footprints. The water is normally right at the vegetation line. From what the locals are saying this is the worst low tides in years.

One of the important things purchased today is a box to hold the leveling blocks and other stuff that is part of the RV lifestyle. This will keep the blocks from sliding all over the bed of the truck and being hard to retrieve. It is installed in the bed of the truck and tied in place. It should be a great addition.

During a walk on the beach after not catching anything again, this purple barnacle was found in abundance. This beach walking can be very addictive, especially in an area like this that has lots of different things hit the beach. Tomorrow might be a good day to look for a book on seashells.

My knowledge does not include what this really is, but it was a beautiful color. Padre Island get lots of more things and it is within thirty minutes away. This is turning into a great place to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

1-21-09 Correction after internet research. It is a purple barnacle, not coral.