Thermos Treasure

Port Aransas, Texas

The time was right for a blood letting just before Comfort Castle leaves the area on Thursday. So after calling and verifying that the Coastal Bend Blood Center could do the deed, it was off to lose blood. This time it was to the central location instead of the mobile units. This is the beautiful building in northwest Corpus.

The folks there were a lot of fun. The lady doing my donation said that she could stick me with her eyes closed if I wanted to see it done. No Thanks, just the normal way would be fine. We had a great time and a new blue T-shirt went home with me.

While leaving there it dawned on me that there was nothing needing my return to Comfort Castle, sooooo a trip to Padre Island was made. It will have to last a while since my plans are to leave the coastal area for some where on Thursday.

At Bird Island Basin is the windsurfing business for the area. In the back of the building is this directions pole to show you which way is which.


The tides were way out again today in the strong winds. This provided an opportunity to wander some of the marsh that is usually too wet for walking. Now there is a firm crust that can carefully be walked by web footed fools like me. A distant sand dune looked attractive to me so off into the marsh my feet went. The “dry” lake bed seemed to go on forever and stepping had to be done with care.

As the far side of the lake bed was reached, it was possible to see the normal water flow channel. It curved around and headed out into Laguna Madre. Isn’t the water beautiful. Notice the torn up spot in the channel bed. No Photoshop work is ever done to my pictures. The colors you see are the colors that were there always.


When that spot was reached, it seemed odd. Immediately a careful look around was done to make certain no undesirable critters were about to pounce on me. The torn up area was odd. There were no especially discernable tracks leading to or from the spot. Whatever it was ripped it up pretty badly. See for yourself. If someone recognizes what did this please let me know.

A little bit past the mystery spot, the channel hits the bay area. This is the “beach” that is normally covered with water. It usually has about two feet of water right where this picture was taken.


My good luck held up well. A few feet along the beach was this odd shiny thing. When it was examined closely it turned out to be a very nice thermos jug. It was a little rusty from the salt water, but the stainless steel cleaned up very well. There were not foot prints anywhere close to it, so it must have fallen overboard from a boat and washed ashore. Inside was about a half cup of coffee.


My progress back to the truck took me past the boat ramp. Some fishermen were starting to come in. Some had caught fish and the pelican patrol was on hand to greet them. Of course the pelicans would be very happy to help clean up the residue from the fish filleting efforts.

For supper tonight two turkey patties and mixed vegetables were prepared. A premixed salad was put into a bowl with Zesty Italian dressing for flavor. A cheap diet Cola rounded out the evenings meal. This is pretty good stuff for someone trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Ghost of Paradise Pond

Port Aransas, Texas

It was a cold windy morning to be out early. The truck had an appointment for a fuel filter change. The deckhand on the ferry would agree it was a miserable morning to be on the water. He was trying to hide behind the upright pipe at the corner of the ferry.

After the filter change it was back home to Comfort Castle and warmth. Later in the afternoon the walls closed in and a walk around town was required. A small sign about a special pond caught my eye. So off down a narrow lane my shoes carried me. This is the first glimpse of what awaited.
This is Paradise Pond of Port Aransas for all to enjoy. The sign explained what is going on and gives a map of the special area.
As you wander down the sidewalk on the right side, the fence blocks your view of what is ahead. Upon turning the corner the fence continues a good way to some undeterminable items at the end. Meanwhile on the left is a drainage area with trees and all sorts of birdy brush.
At the end is the start of an elevated boardwalk. At first you cannot see where it goes because the birdy brush blocks your view. It actually winds around a bit and has three information stations. This is right in the middle of a commercial area and except for the noise, you could be miles out in the country.
This is taken from the end of the boardwalk looking back to the beginning of the board walk. All in all this is a very pleasant place to relax for a while.
There are three information stations. The first one is about hydrology of the area. The wet and dry cycle is needed for the health of the animals and vegetation.
We have a very special event today. While taking a picture of the vegetation sign, an image of the seldom seem and benevolent Ghost of Paradise Pond was captured. Many have sought it but only your Old Fat Man has actually captured an image of him. The sign is explaining about some of the brush and vegetation in this area.
And at the very end is the bird information sign. This is only a couple of hundred yards from the salt water, but no saltwater birds were seen here today.
The ghost proved to be a personable fellow and very friendly. He told me that folks are usually in such a hurry that he doesn’t bother to come out. They come and go too fast to enjoy the area and him. However when a meanderthall like me comes along, taking time to see all the details and beauty, he likes to come out and visit. It certainly made for a special day for me.

And there you have an honest and truthful account of a day of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Crabman

Port Aransas, Texas

Excessive wind again. At least it is sunshine and nearly seventy degrees. Therefore a nice long walk is needed. Lighthouse Trails park is the chosen starting point.

After crossing the ferry and going a mile or so, a right turn takes me in to the parking spot. After locking up the truck to deter honest crooks, the walk started back to the channel that the truck had just crossed. A lot more water has come back in and large quantities of bait fish are running around looking for some red or trout to eat them.

This path ended quickly, so about face MARCH. As the truck was approached this shot of the old highway was taken. Those white buildings in the distance are the first goal. The truck is waiting patiently.

On the right in that picture is the channel to Aransas Pass. It is a main flow route for water and fish into the back bays. Along this walk several more good access points for bank fishing were found. You can stand on the bank and cast into the channel otherwise known as a fish highway. This is looking good was my thought.

The white buildings turned out to be the business known as

He has a good place to launch yaks with the proper sloped sand area. Very importantly is that he has a parking area that is under observation almost all the time. Cost is $2 to launch and park. The best part is in and out is ok all day. You can go out fishing and come back in and go get some lunch and return and go out again all for the one time cost of $2. Back at some other places yakkers park there have been some break ins. Windows for trucks are expensive.

From Crabmans business, a yaking fisherman was nearly visible. This is the normal view shot of him. This guy is out from the launch point a long way and about in the center of the picture. Click on the picture and find him.

This next shot is with a three power telephoto and the center section enlarged until it got somewhat fuzzy. You see there really was a red yak out there with a fellow wade fishing from it on the right.
He will be paddling back against the strong wind we have today. Oh Boy.

After all that excitement, the highway was crossed and the path back snuggled along the bay on the other side of the highway. In that stretch of walking several more good spots to put in and fish were noted. This is turning into a very productive walk and it is not even noon yet.

HMMMMM. Let the team go check out another spot or two. The next spots did not prove to be good locations. It is lunch time in Aransas Pass and the closest place to eat is a Tex-Mex place that does not look exceptionally good. However several cars and trucks are there already and some have Mexico plates. Ok Give it a try. A plain little place inside that is clean. The chicken fajitas were prepared to perfection. The guacamole was even better. The salad was fresh. The salsa delicious. The rice was ordinary good. The beans were not normal tasting and very worth having again. Drive out including tip $11.

A good thing for me is that the fishing gear lives in the truck. So over to the city swimming pool. Park on the back side and walk out to the salt water marsh. Cast you heart out for an hour and get one little nibble. Shucks.

The LARGE ice tea is making itself felt. So a stop over at the restrooms at the boat ramp and pier is taken. The water looks nice and almost up to normal. Bait fish and porpoises are running around in the ramp channel. Why not fish some more???? So out comes the rod and fish bites bait. Three hours later one piggy perch had hit the deck and that is all. A lot of small bait fish nibbles did happen. That means in the next couple of days it could be very good fishing around here.

The good part of the pier fishing was the couple from Taft that came by to wet a line and chat. Another fellow, from Alabama, happened by and we all talked fishing. That was great fun.

To top off the pier time, a really neat sailboat came out of the housing area and sailed right in front of us about fifty feet away. In fact this next picture had to wait until he got farther away from us to take it so the whole boat would show. This is a lovely boat.

And now the word processor just jumped to the third page for tonight. WOW that is a lot of hot air.

As the sun started to get low, it seemed like a good time to head back to Comfort Castle. The ferry warning sign on the highway told of a wait of at least a half hour. RATZZZZ. When the truck got to the ferry landing, they motioned us right on to the ferry. What a wonderful surprise! We did have to wait for a couple of sailboats to clear our path before leaving the landing. That is ok, they are nice to watch sail by.

It is rumored that the super bowl is being played tonight. However something else than watching it will be done in the name of trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

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.

Sideways???

Port Aransas, Texas
Oh Boy a new fishing rod is in the plans for tomorrow. But first the mundane daily stuff.

This turned out the day some experimentation was done in order to make an important decision for my future. For some time now, there has been blog entries or stories of folks traveling full time living out of the back of a pickup truck. After about two months of considering it, today was the day to see if that idea fit me. EMPHATICALLY NO. My soft old body likes getting clean and comfort too much.

It did turn out to be a good exercise to find out about an overnight trip if needed during a cloverleaf trip from Comfort Castle. Now that is reasonable, but many days in a row, no thanks. So now I know! If Comfort Castle does not go, the old fat man likely does not go.

During the experiment, the path took us to Goose Island State Park, GISP, and the fishing pier there. This visit turned out somewhat different than all the others in the past. Fishing was done from about one pm until dark. A neat fellow visited with me the whole time. His luck was catching and my luck was fishing, darn. The water in the bays is blown out to sea by all the strong north winds. In this following picture of the pier and bay, all the reefs you see usually have three to four feet of water over them.

There is a channel that the fellow showed me to fish in. He caught several $10,000 red fish. A $10,000 red fish is an undersize red fish that you did not throw back and the game warden catches you with it. Locally they are called rat reds. Bull reds are the ones over the maximum length allowed.

My current fishing rod is showing its over thirty year age. It has participated in many fish catches from Alabama through Texas and up to Washington state. Tonight at the pier the wear in the eyelets and general wear and tear were evident. It is neat when you actually wear out a fishing rod from fishing.

When the lack of light and cold wind of the evening drove me from the pier, this picture of the lights and pier was taken. In about a month the speckled trout, red fish and others will congregate under the lights at night for harvesting. Then things get very exciting.

This was the first time for me on the ferry at night. The landings are lit up very well. As luck would have it the truck was on the front of the ferry. This gave a great view of the landing across the channel.
Are you supposed to come into a ferry landing almost sideways. It may have been a new pilot on this crossing. We arrived at the landing somewhat severely askew. The deck hand threw his hands into the air and looked up to the pilot house with a “What are you doing” look on his face. Then he commenced to laughing. Eventually we connected to the landing properly and every one made it ashore safely. That was fun.

The day was bright and warm, so it was perfect for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Many Big Teeth

Port Aransas, Texas

Sometimes pretty weather has to wait on chores. By the time my old fat body got moving good the sun was out and the weather beautiful. BUT groceries needed to be purchased and laundry done. Alright groceries at Wal-mart and Wal-mart carries the new fishing rod that fits my spare reel. A good omen was getting to drive right on to the ferry for the trip to Aransas Pass.

The Wal-mart was looking good as it was not over run with folks. But my memory of the $500 wheel bearing and the $250 in optical costs this month went berserk and all it would let me do is fondle the rod. Now get over and get decent groceries for me my stomach commanded. OK OK OK So proper groceries were purchased instead of feel good food that gives you swell belly.

Back at Comfort Castle the food was all put away. Then the filled laundry basket screamed at me “ Get over here and get busy!!!” WOW tooooo many bosses around here. Laundry went well and all the clothes are put away and the bed has fresh sheets to welcome me tonight. That part sounds good.

About four pm a wild urge to go to the beach hit me between the eyes. So into the truck and down the road we go. Maybe my mucking boots will help when I start my training on surf fishing. After pulling the truck into the soft sand where it left very deep ruts, the mucking boots were put on and the fishing rod prepared. Off to the surf we go. In case anyone wants to know, every now and then an extra large wave washes up on the beach. It is also a fact of life that mucking boots do not drain well until they are removed from your feet and turned upside down. The beach was well occupied with folks, but his shot of the surf was made in between large groups of folks.

As the gear was being put away and the sun going down, this neat shot was taken.

Leaving the state park takes you past the road to the back bay. Since there was a few minutes before dark, a quick trip down the road to get in a few more casts was made. Since the surf had yielded no action at all except for occasional over size waves, nothing was expected here either. However on the third or fourth cast a 24” ribbon fish was hooked and landed. Ribbon fish have MAJOR teeth. This one was very active and getting it unhooked was proving to be a problem. Finally it lay still for a minute and a flip of the line got the barbless hook loose. The tail was grabbed with my pliers and the ribbon fish flung back into the water. Here is a picture of one from the internet. Notice the teeth.
By now it was nearly dark, the tide was coming in and the rough road needed to be navigated, so the truck seemed to understand that we needed to hurry a little bit.

My surf fishing education needs a lot of help. However it is a great place to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Tiburon Is Cute

Port Aransas, Texas

As the back bay behind Padre Island was being scanned from my lunch spot, a small dot seemed out of place. It is just to the left of the end of the right hand island and right of the green channel marker. What is it? Curiosity had me pounded to the spot.

After a long wait the spot turned out to be a yakker fighting the wind to head back.
After another long wait, the fellow was finally making it to the shore. My meandering path coincided with his landing location by my good fortune. After assisting him carry his yak up to the trucks, we visited. Of course, trouble had to visit while carrying the yak. My pants and a treble hook got very intimate. It took a couple of minutes to get me shed of the hook. Only minor damage to my clothing occurred.
This accidental visit allowed me to meet and visit for several hours with J.C. and Tiburon the pup.
Tib is part Lab and part Basset Hound. He is a wonderful pup of 14 weeks. He definitely belongs to the good guys group.

JC and this old fat man hit it off well. He is in his early twenties and a very sharp fellow. The rangers collared a man in the parking lot where we were talking. That was interesting for quite a while. We both stayed on the opposite side of his truck to be safe.

JC spent a lot of time educating me on a lot of changes since my last time swamp fishing over thirty years ago. Waders and shoes have made big changes. His information made good sense.

After a bit, it was noticed that one of his fishing poles looked odd. The eyelets were spiraled around the rod so that the line had to make a 180 degree twist from the tip eye to the reel. He allowed me to try it out. It was simply amazing how that idea made the line behave so well. With that arrangement, the rod tip faces the water like a spinning rod. This prevents rod torque when a fish is pulling sideways on the rod tip. This photo requires careful looking and clicking to see the eyes spiraling around the rod.

JC built up the rod himself and added some very fancy windings to personalize it. This winding is very attractive, don’t you think??
One of the surf rods was a creation of his also. Check out the size of this behemoth. But it was very light to my surprise.
The surf rod also had fancy windings that were forgotten during the picture taking session. RATTZZZZZZ.

JC does a lot of surf fishing and gave me lessons on surf fishing for over an hour. You better look out fish, this old fat man is coming to get you. During the course of the afternoon, several folks came by and stopped to chat. Before you knew it the sun was gone and we were still trying really hard to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

A BIG UN

Port Aransas, Texas

It was a cold, wet windy gray day and good for staying inside. Mid morning a call was received from the optical shop in Aransas Pass and my glasses were ready for pickup. Thanks to the ferry the nine mile trip took about forty minutes. However it was worth it to be able to see much better. Thank you, Jack at Bay Optical. Since there was nowhere to go in the nasty weather and a lot of time to get there, some riding around in AP was done.

From the looks of things the area needs some serious economic stimulus to help folks here. Jobs would be better than handouts. The next town south is Ingleside and the main employer there is the Navy shipyard. The shipyard is due to close this year. This area is getting some serious hits this last couple of years.

After staying inside out of the miserable weather, at least miserable for the area, a short drive was made over to Charlie’s Pasture park to see if it was protected enough to get in a decent walk. When the truck was parked, out hopped Mr. Rolypoly me. A few steps out into the weather and it was back to the truck to hunker down. Nasty. YUK.

OK back to the-------- wait a minute! What is that in the ship channel up near Corpus Christi? With the new glasses it was possible to see something in the channel. In fact it was possible to see the cranes and other stuff in the industrial area of Corpus. That stuff was not visible with my previous glasses.

After digging around to find my little hiking binoculars and getting them adjusted to my new settings, the thing turned out to be some sort of vessel moving my way. Here it is shot at maximum zoom.


After a good while, one could see it was obviously a piece of oil drilling equipment on the move. It is amazing that my vision had improved enough to tell something was out there far enough away that even with my eight power eye assistants, the object was not discernable. Curiosity had me tied to the spot. After MANY minutes, by using the eye assistants, it was possible to see the jack up legs on the vessel. Having been around this sort of stuff all my life, it was a puzzle that it was still not recognizable yet. When it finally got close, this beast is HUGE. Normally my camera has to zoom all the way out for pictures from this location of the ships and boats. For this beast, the camera was set to maximum wide angle and be taken away from the shore a long distance.

Although it is a drilling rig of some sort, it is a new style to me. Apparently the gray drilling rig floats in place held by the large anchors seen in the picture. The legs are very light weight for that size rig. The ship carrying it must be removed after placing the drilling rig some way. Looking at the draft numbers on the ship, the whole pile of ship and cargo was only drawing thirteen feet of water.

It was fun to watch the legs showing over the top of the town as the ship made its way on down the channel, around the bend and out to sea. It was visible across the top of the town for a long ways out to sea. Really kind of neat to see. That was good luck to happen there at that moment. It reminded me of when Thunderhorse went to sea and my job kept me from going to see it leave. Check out Thunderhorse on the internet. It was the largest offshore platform in the world at that time.

The wind has died down now and the temperature was sixty a few minutes ago. During the ship adventure the temperature was fifty one with a twenty degrees plus wind chill. Wind chill is a very serious factor down in the wet country of the Gulf coast. But even that does not stop me from trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Gil Got The Girl

Port Aransas, Texas

A cacophonous tune was the melody of my life today. Everything seemed to go a different direction than the direction it seemed to head at first.

Putting a protection pad on the truck camper tailgate to protect the yak while carrying it did not work out at all. However in the process of working on the tailgate, my bike had to be removed so an impetuous bike ride turned out to be FUN.

The appointment for the wheel bearing replacement was at one thirty and the ferry has been stacked up the last two days for some reason. So the trip to Rockport was started a half hour early. Naturally the truck got to drive right on to the ferry and the ferry moved out in less than a minute. Call me an early bird, but it worked out well anyway.

The poor mechanic has been sick with a flu like sickness and only came in today to work on the truck. He did a fine job it seemed. The bearing was much worse than we had thought. The new one certainly helped the truck to handle better. From his shop a stop was made at Wal-Mart for some jig heads, groceries and cash. Then on back home. Of course this time the ferry wait was twenty minutes.

An evening drive to the beach turned out to be less than comfortable in the cool wet wind. A couple of neat pictures were taken.

This first is where the beach meets the jetty. The tides are so low the ferries are not carrying big trucks across for now. The rocks in this picture are normally covered with a couple of feet of water.

On up the beach a bit, the extremes of vacation housing struck me as funny. In this picture is a tent. Then to the right and back some is an RV. Finally in the back ground are some of the high $$$$$$ condos that abound in this area. Those condos rent for over a thousand a weekend and are one bedroom little places. And the folks still get to get wet and dirty on the same beach as the tenters.
After dark my feeble brain thought it might like to visit the local library. It nearly backs up to the campground, but the fence requires a walk of about five minutes around to get to the library. It was closed.

Another city building across the parking lot has a nice bird display in the lobby. Since it was about eight pm, the building was locked. This picture was shot through the glass doors.

In front of the building is a statue of a fish that used to be plentiful around here.
The plaque about the statue shows when it was put in place.
And finally on the way back to Comfort Castle, this picture spot was shot with the flash. This is a concrete statue set up for folks to get in and pretend to be surfing while their picture is being taken.
And finally my luck came in correct and the final episode of Gil Grissom on CSI was viewed. They brought his character to a close very well.

Friday is upon us, but so is the cool weather and high winds. Maybe this weekend will not be too crowded with weekenders. Then again maybe everyone will be out following me trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

A Familiar Noi$e

Port Aransas, Texas

An easy starting morning turned into a very busy day before nightfall slowed things down.

Three or four days ago the truck started making a funny familiar noise when turning right. Finally this morning, my memory kicked in. That is the noise it was making when the passenger side front wheel bearing was failing. Out came the phone book and mechanic shops were looked up and tallied. Next was to drive around and check them out. One in Rockport was clean inside but a bit rough looking on the outside. However the shop had the working tools stored in an orderly manner and the floors were being kept swept clean.

Upon talking to the owner, we examined the truck closer and determined that the driver side wheel bearing was shot. Tomorrow at one thirty the work starts for replacing the wheel bearing. This will be a few hundred dollars gone quickly.

One of the things a lot of Rvers have is leveling blocks made from wood. Mine were getting very worn and cracking apart as you can see in this picture of the one under the jack stand.

One of the keys of my travels is to stay as light weight as functions well. The current blocks are cut from 2 x 12 boards. They have proved to be larger than needed. After careful measuring, it was determined that 2 x 8 boards should do just as well and save a little weight. The 2 x 8 was marked off in 12 inch increments and the sawing began in the bright sunshine and warm temperatures of the afternoon.

The hand sawing went well and the exercise felt good on my recovering body. Now there are eight new blocks for leveling. There is one old one that is still in good shape. This gives me more blocks than is normally needed, but sometimes the stabilizer jacks need a larger footprint so they do not sink into the ground.

About an hour before dusk, a ride to the jetty was taken. Some fishing lure wetting was done for the fun of it. Nothing bothered my baits at all. However there were several sea turtles coming in on the tidal flow in the channel. They were neat to watch swim by.

The next fellow down was about a hundred feet away. He was using shrimp on the bottom and catching small fish of some sort. He made the mistake of giving them to the pelicans. Pelicans are VERY PUSHY. Here they are crowding the fellow as he is trying to unhook a fish. The stupid pelican on the left had already dove into the water trying to get the fellows fish before the fish was landed. The fellow had to actually shove that bird out of the way with his foot. The pelican in front of the fellow was politely waiting for the fish to be unhooked. It got the fish for being nice.

The pelicans key in on several factors. One is a bent rod while landing a fish. My lure caught on the rocks and my heavily bent rod attracted eight of the pelicans. They all gathered within a foot or two of me. A couple got in the way of me getting the line broken so fishing could resume. VERY PUSHY.

As things were being put away, an odd item was noticed. The land mass across the channel is a private island. The beach in Texas is public property, as is the jetty. The only way to the island beach is by boat. In this picture you can see a tent on the beach. Tonight it will be calm and in the forties. The mosquitoes are out in force with the calm wind. This is what you would see with your eyes.

These are some tough fools.
This is an enlargement from a telephoto picture.

Even though tomorrow’s repairs will hurt my budget badly, it will give me more confidence that a trip into Wild West Texas around Big Bend and up to the Guadalupes should be taken this spring to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Charlie's Pasture

Port Aransas, Texas

This old fat man had a fairly good day. The “bug” seems to have lost it’s power and is on the run. There was even a short four mile walk taken this afternoon in the sunny but cold weather. It made for a nice outing.

Earlier in the day some “what ever is in the cabinets stew” was made. It turned out very well in my modest opinion. A can of hot dog sauce, one can each of two kinds of beans, one can of creamed corn, a double handful of cole slaw, some chopped carrots, brown rice and broken into small pieces spaghetti. Stir fry the slaw and carrots for a couple of minutes in the stew pot, then dump the rest in and hot simmer it for a half hour. Throw in whatever spices you like whenever you feel like it. Now there are four more meals of stew waiting for me in the freezer right next to the bait shrimp. Oh Boy Good Eatin.

Finally it is time to tell the tales of Charles Pasture. It is about a mile walk from here to the pier. The walk to Charlie’s pasture is pleasant and provides many items for future blogs. It is basically a municipal park that is strung out along the Corpus Christi ship channel from the ferry landing to the south for well over a mile.

The first mile or so is bulk headed with concrete. The top of the bulkhead is paved for a nice walkway right on the edge of the water. However a large boat wake can splash up on you if you are not paying attention. There are benches every now and then along the walkway. For almost all the way it is possible to back your vehicle up to the walkway. This makes for very convenient bank fishing. The water slopes from the bulk head out to the ship channel. The ship channel is nominally forty one feet deep. There are some huge fish caught from the shore here.
Also provide free of charge is a very nice fishing pier. In the following picture you will notice some newer wood in the pier. The T-head is large and can hold a lot of folks for fishing on the edge of the ship channel. The story goes that in warm weather the pier is very crowded. According to a fishing forum, sometime last year the pier was crowded when a ship went through the area too fast. In boating you are responsible for damage your wake does. The wake was washing peoples things off the bulkhead and causing damage of all sorts. When it passed the pier the wake was higher than the pier decking. The folks on the pier were frightened to say the least. The good part is that all the new wood you see was what replaced the part that the ship wake washed away leaving a good number of folks stranded on the T-head with over a hundred feet of pier missing in deep water.
No one was killed but there was some serious layering going on for a bit. The story says that the Coast Guard was on top of it quickly and the shipping company covered the losses. This was a bunch of very lucky folks.

The area of water that comes through the narrow portion of land here is huge. Many, many square miles of bay area gets its tidal flow through this spot. Frequently the tidal flow is too fast to fish. This is a picture of a wake the piling on the pier was making from the tidal flow near the end of the tide change a couple of days ago. It would be too much flow to paddle my yak against.

If you messed up and got caught in a seaward tidal flow in a yak, the next stop is the Yucatan in Mexico. That would be a thirsty and long trip.

Tonight is another bitter blizzard with temps in the thirties. Tomorrow is supposed to be bright and sunny for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Bugged

Port Aransas,

Apparently this old fat man has picked up a bug from someone recently. Today was mostly laying around feeling puny, sniffing and hacking.

A short visit to a fishing goods store was amusing. As my path went up and down the aisles, there happened to be a nice clerk doing inventory. For some reason a display caught my attention then my funny bone. As we stood there with the clerk looking at the fool laughing out loud, the fish measuring rulers were pointed out.

On the market is L shaped metal fish measuring rulers to make certain your catch is legal to keep.
The freshwater ruler started at 0 inches and went to 18 inches.
The saltwater ruler started at 12 inches and went to 36 inches.
My comment to the clerk just before he started laughing also was That right there shows why saltwater is my preferred fishing style. He agreed.

Ok everyone, while my body is misbehaving, the rest of you get out there and try to have tooooo much fun, TheOFM

Burned, Blasted And Burned

Port Aransas, Texas

There is a wind burned, sand blasted then sun burned face attached to my body tonight. A rub down with crèmes of different sorts should be a wonderful event.

Back to the beginning. Grocery shopping was first this morning. The local IGA store was entered in high hopes it would be not too high priced. WRONG AGAIN. After trolling through the entire store the items in my basket were put back on the shelves. There is an item that costs about $2.38 in most stores. In the IGA it was $3.59 and that is how the pricing went. On down the road to Wal-Mart and OFM type prices. As it turned out, the diesel was so much cheaper at the Wal-Mart 9 miles away that this one half tank of diesel saved me enough to run to Wal-Mart every four days for a month and still come out ahead. It seems to be price gouging here on the island. There is also some undesirable attitudes by the store keepers in this town.

On a short walk around town, this one store had some unusual “ornaments” out front to distinguish it from others. There are some net floats, a bouy, a Scott air pak and an odd yellow device of unknown use.

At another store, perched on the front porch was this crab trap on the bottom and a unknown on the top. The crab trap is a cage with a few inlets in it. Some bait is put in the trap and the trap dropped into the water. Crabs find the openings to get to the bait and then cannot find their way out. When the crabber comes back and lifts the trap from the water, he can open a trap door to drop the crabs into a container on the boat.


While being a lazy bum down near the Corpus Christi channel watching boats come and go, my eyes got to witness the Coast Guard going someplace in a hurry.

There was the boat above, a smaller boat and then ten minutes later another large boat all in a hurry toward the channel leading to the Gulf of Mexico. About thirty minutes later the largest boat came back up channel at a much more sedate pace than when they went by the first time. Since the Coast Guard has so many duties on the coast, you can never know just what the cause for the hurry was all about. The Coasties are patrolling here a lot, but usually at a slow comfortable pace.

Late in the afternoon after being a lazy bum got boring, some fishing was tried with disastrous results.

This is what is left of my newest rod purchased about a year ago. It is a Berkley Cherrywood rod. The tip had been broken once before and repaired. Today my fishing weight had hung on some oyster shells. As the line was tensioned to attempt to break the line at the knot, the rod snapped. This was not anywhere the tension it has had while catching fish in the past. Maybe this was a bad blank from the start. My other rod that is over twenty years old with lots of fish brought in with it seems to be working just fine. The rod was rated for two pound stronger line than was on the reel so the rod should not have broken. It is in the garbage can at the pier now.

After searching the internet fishing forums, it came up that the generally toughest rods out there nowadays are the Shakespeare Ugly Stick rods. Nobody said they were fantastic performers, but lots of folks told stories of how tough they are. Knowing my grace and agility and that the Ugly Sticks are on the lower end of price, it seems appropriate to put one in my tool box. OH DARN, now some fishing gear shopping needs to be done.

Since the weather folks have predicted a light freeze tonight, shopping might be a good way to try to have tooooo much fun tomorrow. TheOFM.

Surfing Balloon

Port Aransas, Texas

Checking out some things in Corpus and doing some shopping was the order of business today. The weather chose otherwise. It was a very thick fog this morning and the ferries were having lots of fun with their fog horns a couple of blocks away. About ten thirty the fog lifted and it was 75 and sunshine. Shorts, tee shirt and running shoes and off to Corpus.

When the truck was secure in the Academy store parking lot, an old fat man hopped out of it to a 59 degree surprise. The cold front got here early. Upon return to the truck after a successful shopping time in the store, we headed off to check on some other things before going to the beach.

One interesting thing was this store sign. Can you supply some stories to go with the sign????

As the day progressed, the temperature climbed up to 63 for a little while. My pass got me into the Mustang Island state park again. It was early afternoon and time for a beach fix. The beach was totally deserted except for me and a ranger on patrol. The white sand in the next picture was like powdered sugar. The wind was blowing it along the ground in little “streaming clouds”. My footprints in the sand lasted about five minutes before they were blown into oblivion. The roof in the picture is a casualty of hurricane Ike.
As a local paper was being read in the comfort of my truck, this green balloon came floating past in the surf. At first it seemed like a balloon that is used for dragging a baited hook around to catch fish. But eventually it bounced up in the air a few times so it was apparent just a loose balloon out for an exciting time surfing.
Notice the angry sea. King Neptune told me he is pissed with Mother Nature for letting it get cold again. The wind was blasting so hard the concrete barriers along the highway were flapping in the breeze.

We have a cold spell tonight and then another late next week. It is supposed to get down into the thirties both times. Basically a virtual blizzard of cold for this area.

All this wind and SEVERE cold is really cutting into my biking and yaking attempts at having tooooo much fun. TheOFM

Banshee Winds

Port Aransas, Texas

It was very obvious this morning that it was time to do laundry. All the gathering was done and off to the campground laundry. It takes laundry a lot longer to dry in this salty humidity than it did in the desert settings. Almost three hours later the clothing was put away and the bed made. Since my stomach was being a very irritable grouch, lunch was eaten early at 11:30 AM. Then a short nap until one pm was enjoyed.

Time for fishing. A short drive to the bay access at the state park was made. An hour later still no bites. The only other person there was a wader using live shrimp. Live shrimp is a never fail bait. WRONG AGAIN. The fellow never had to re-bait during the whole time. Oh well. Back to PA.

Time to hunt down the third free public pier in town. It is at the end of Station Street. It has a nice parking area with restrooms of less than the best shape.
The pier is a very nice pier set right where three ship channels come together near the inland base of the jetties protecting the entrance to the Corpus Christi Channel. The water was very turbulent and swift. Porpoises were abundant and playing with the boats coming past.

Still not a nibble even. Therefore it was time to try another spot. Around to the Charles Pasture pier. Not much but one small perch and a hardhead catfish. As the weather began to cool off and the King Kong mosquitoes came out, it was time to just quit for the day.

On the way back to Comfort Castle, this picture of a fancy condominium building was taken. This is the cheap one in town at $300,000 each condo and up. This town is either really expensive or a run down dump when it comes to housing.

The wind was howling like a rabid banshee today so the yak tryout will have to wait. Even the campground swimming pool had waves big enough to go surfing. That made the fishing miserable in reality. All options are open tomorrow for trying to have tooooo much fun TheOFM.

Yak Mods

Port Aransas, Texas

The yak modification time was here today. It always makes me a little nervous to drill holes in a perfectly good boat. However the tie points that were to be installed were badly needed. Installing custom tie points on a SOT yak is standard procedure. The only bad news is the paddle clips do not fit a Mini-X like mine. There was not any usable flat spots to install the clips where they would be of assistance. They will be saved for the next yak. There is always a different boat in mind for the future.

After the disappointment about the paddle clips, it was time to install tie points. First the items planned for tying down were placed in the yak. Then the optimum point of the tie down was decided.

Next the hole positions were marked and pilot holes drilled through the hull. Next the full size hole to fit the rivet tightly was drilled. They looked two feet in diameter to my nervous eye. The rivet was test fitted.
The hole was tight enough that the rivet had to be forced into the hole during installation. Hopefully it will be leak resistant. The two rivets were placed into the holes of the tie-down. Next the assembly was placed over the predrilled holes. A bit of force and the tie-down was seated in place.

Next was to apply the rivet tool properly to make the rivet splay out inside the yak. It was nerve racking on the first one. However it went very well and easy. By the eighth one the installation was well in hand. The installation was finished easily and with good results. Check it out in this next picture.
Four tie-downs total were installed.

All the tools were cleaned and put away. The area cleaned up and then it was lunch time. This time it took me about an hour to do the job. The next one probably will not take but twenty minutes. It is very easy.

By the time lunch was finished, the temperature was near eighty degrees. The extra bright sunshine required dark sunglasses to keep from squinting too much. After a bit it was decided to go down to Charlie’s Pasture and do some fishing. Charlie’s Pasture has a good tale about it to be told in a blog entry covering Charlie’s Pasture all by itself.

After around an hour and a half of getting no bites on every thing in the tackle box, it was time to try something else. It was notable that a person on the pier several hundred yards north was catching some fish and throwing them back in. OK now get over to the pier to see what is happening. He was a very nice young man of about 20. He was catching what are called Piggy Perch down here in Texas.

They are a small fish in the 8-10 inch size. Around piers they can be a nuisance or a lot of fun depending on the presence or absence of preferred fish. When a small kid is being introduced to fishing they are great because they will readily bite very quickly and are hard fighters for their size. It is easy for a small kid to have a bite every 20-30 seconds and land a fish every few minutes to keep the interest up. On ultra light tackle they are a ferocious opponent in the fishing world.

As the sun was going down and the temperature getting chilly, the BIG BUBBA MOSQUITOES came out to feed. They can bite through ½” steel plate and two of them can carry off a small child. Since my light saber was back in Comfort Castle, it seemed prudent to jump into the truck and leave the area.

Tonight is make up shopping lists night. This week had gotten away from me. It was a major surprise today when it turned out to be Thursday instead of Tuesday. The trip into Corpus for a couple of things needed for the yak outfitting needs to be done early in the morning before the weekenders come into town and create traffic. Just for the heck of it, tonight I stood in the center of the main street in town, Cotter St., while I finished a glass of iced tea. No vehicles at all at seven pm. WOW. It will not be that quiet tomorrow night.

This place is something else with all the ways to try to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

Beach Dog On The Run

Port Aransas, Texas
Marina Beach RV Resort

It has been a day of odd turns and unexpected events. The morning started late and lazy, otherwise known as perfect. By ten am it was getting time to decide to get out of the house to do something. WHY? Just cause.

Ok off to JerryB’s kayak place in Flour Bluff for a yak paddle holder. When paddling and a picture wants me to record it for posterity, it has been a pain to keep the paddle under control and take the pictures. Oscar of TKF had a set of clips on his yak to hold the paddle for just that sort of thing. Debi B. is the one to talk to if you are a soft old man instead of a hard body person. She understands our comfort desires and what it takes to meet that desire.

She knew exactly what was needed including the weird pop rivets that plastic yaks use to attach things. On top of everything else, she is outright fun to talk with. Those readers anywhere close to here that are thinking of a yak or wanting to try one out, they are having a demo day sometime around the first of March. Keep up to date by visiting their website http://www.jerrybskayaks.com/. Here are the clips and the rivets for these blow molded yaks.

After this wonderful time, it was time for lunch. The Whataburger on Padre Island got my business again. The best part was meeting a young man there and talking about traveling with him, especially Big Bend. He will have the time of his life when he gets over to the Bibe area.

Since my fishing equipment was in the truck, it seemed proper to stop at the Mustang Island state park and do some fishing. One good bite and numerous small nibbles yielded a grand total of zero fish caught in three hours. My back was starting to hurt from standing fishing that long. My mucking boots worked out very well as long as the heavy muck was avoided.

Since the beach was just across the highway and my pass let me in for no cost, some beach time was taken. The beach was nearly deserted as you can see in this picture taken this afternoon.

It was just warm and wonderful. Oh yeah, my sister wanted a picture of my toes in the beach sand as soon as it warmed enough to handle it. Well it was plenty warm today and here the beauties are, Sis.

The day was going very calmly and this old fat man was laid back in the drivers seat nearly asleep. A couple walking their Golden Retriever was approaching from my left. Suddenly there was a loud shout. As my eyes got focused, into view came a nice black Lab running down the beach dragging a leash. She was splashing the puddles and really having fun.

The man of the couple called to the lab and she came over to him to play. In the mean time the lady noticed way down the beach a man running toward us. The truck was started and we went down the beach nearly a half mile to pick up the fellow. He was in good shape as he was running pretty hard but not really breathing too hard. When we got back up to the couple and the dogs, he thanked me profusely and hopped out to get his pup back. Here is the happy reunion.

Don’t you love it when things work out nice!!

That was actually a great amount of fun today. What in the world will happen tomorrow while out trying to have tooooo much fun? TheOFM

Pushy Pelican

Port Aransas, Texas
Marina Beach RV Resort

This town is going to take a while to get it covered and reported to my readers. It has much more than Fredericksburg for the number things to do and see.

It was a short walk this afternoon, but a long talk at Roberts Park. The park starts about one block from the campground. To give you a little idea of the intensity of the area, each side of the street of that block will take at least one whole blog each to cover them.

Near the start of the park is a sign to give you some idea of the animals that are in the area for your admiration. In the couple of hours that the day light lasted, all the animals were seen. Some VERY close in fact.
In the middle of a grassy patch is this very nice kids playground. It is well done and well maintained. A couple of families were having a great time with soccer balls out in the grass. Lots of giggling and squealing was going on.
Near the start of my entry into the park was a fellow catching bait for fishing. He was using a cast net. My experience is considerable in using a cast net. He was also very good. His catch was finger mullet that make great bait for large game fish. A finger mullet is four to five inches long and about three quarters of an inch in diameter. He was catching about eight to fifteen per cast of the net. It was fun watching someone good with a net do the catching.

Every now and then a loud horn roars into the air. It is the ferry boat signaling a boat or ship in the channel his intentions so no wrecks occur. My jump is usually fairly high when the sound intrudes unexpectedly. It is not often but it is dramatic.

While walking on the rocks at the waterfront, a small bird flew right up to me and landed. Most likely it was used to getting a handout. After walking around looking cute for about two minutes, it wandered off in search of regular bird food instead of human food.

There is a good fishing pier based in the park. It goes out near the ship channel and on weekends is usually crowded.
Notice the fellow on the pier. His name is Leo. He and his wife of many years are here celebrating their wedding anniversary. While we were talking a brown pelican landed on the rail next to Leo. We pretty much ignored the pelican. After a couple of minutes the pelican took flight and whopped Leo on the head with its wing as it flew by. Then the pelican landed about two feet from me on the handrail. This was the evil eye from the pelican since we would not give it a morsel.
A beady eyed devil it seems to me.

The walk on back to Comfort Castle was filled with items in the block back that gave me lots of ideas for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM

On The Island

Port Aransas, Texas
Marina Beach RV Resort

A new city. A new campground. New folks. New adventure await. This is the best part of full time rv living. A new set of adventures whenever you wish to get them started.

Today started with the morning rain waking me from my beauty sleep. Of course it is raining. It is the morning to pack up and leave. Fortunately the rain quit but the cold remained. After getting everything ready to roll, all that was left to do was wait for the mail to come. The mail came a few minutes later and off we rolled for the coast. About half way to the coast is a rest stop. It was needed for my curiosity about if an important letter had come in the mail packet was about to drive me nuts. It had not. It is only the money to get me through the next year that did not show up yet.

After that nice respite in Comfort Castle, it was onward. Crossing the ferry with the trailer had me a little concerned. How they handled trailers was unknown to me. It turned out to be easy. They put two vehicles in front, then gave the same side to me to straddle the centerline. Since this rig is so small they actually loaded two more pickups behind me. The Port Aransas ferries are amazing at how well they handle the traffic load.

From the ferry landing to the campground is about three long blocks. The new landing for Comfort Castle was waiting. Backing in was the easiest that has happened in quite a while. This is a “standard campground” for tourist areas. Actually slightly more side to side space than many. The sites are very long though. Here is the site next to the storage area. No neighbors on one side. How nice!

The scenery is very not scenic to say the least. Here is the “view” from my office/dining table.
Since this is a gulf barrier island, the “dirt “ is powdery sand. It gets into everything. Since my choice for positioning Comfort Castle left me with a sand patio, a trip to the home supply store was taken to purchase some patio stones. Here is a shot from the door down at the new patio. Notice all the sand and lack of vegetation. That door mat will get a lot of use. At least if one falls in the yard, the landing will be soft.

The cell tower is less than a block from the campsite, so good internet is available. It is 43 right now outside with a wet breeze blowing ice knives through your body. Tomorrow will be 65 and bright sunshine. That will make it a good day for trying to have tooooo much fun. TheOFM.

A Nude Sunbather

Sinton, Texas
Rob Bessie Welder RV Park

A beautiful walk around the lake in this park. It was a very pleasant day. Critters were out crittering around. One old fat man out for a stroll in the wonderful sunshine. The area is greening up very fast. The grass at my campsite needs mowing again after only a week since the last mowing. After all spring is due here in another two weeks.

As the stroll made it around to the backside of the lake, a beautiful view opened up. There was a surprise awaiting me up that slough in the back ground. Before the surprise, it provided a peaceful and tranquil site for our enjoyment.

One of the side trails leads you to this great gazebo for bird watching. Again a wonderfully pleasant and peaceful place to visit. Notice the undercurrent of green growth in progress.

As the stroll continued on around and along the slough, surprise, a friendly lady was sun bathing in the nude for our entertainment. She looked to be about eight feet long and had a cute grin on her face. At least she was on the opposite bank, coincidently just below where the picture of the gazebo was taken. It was nice that she was not bothered when the picture of the gazebo was being taken.

On the opposite side of the trail was a lot of grasses Some pretty red blooms attracted a butterfly. It took several shots to finally catch the butterfly still enough to not be blurred to badly.


Tomorrow morning is moving day. Talk about coincidences. Luella stopped and mentioned that this spot is already rented until late in 2009. A couple who are building a house in town needed a spot close to town. Luella was able to give this spot starting Monday. It would not have been available except for my same luck down in Port Aransas on getting the only spot coming available in that campground. What a large set of fortunate circumstances.

The adventures and trying to have tooooo much fun continues. TheOFM.