Well here I am, on the first day of February! I’m not sure whether I can claim being busy or just plain unmotivated and lazy as to why I haven’t sat down and posted more recently!! 😬 I think the beach definitely slows your pace in a positive way!!

During the last post I shared my spot on the beach and how quickly the weather changes. I have to say it changes faster here on the Gulf than it does in Wisconsin and that’s saying a lot! Depending which way the wind is blowing and what weather pattern is coming through you can go from jeans and sweatshirt in the morning to t-shirt and shorts by afternoon. Though I’ve only been in shorts and t-shirts twice since leaving the RV dealership. But I’m not complaining!

I thought I had chosen a nice place on the beach to put my RV. But as time went on I quickly found out why this place was empty. They are moving the sand from where it has accumulated by the dunes back into the ocean! So there are these large front end loaders going back and forth on both sides of my RV all day from 8:00a.m. until 5:00p.m. except for one hour lunch time. That’s not so bad except every time they back up with a bucket of sand or back up from the ocean flattening it down, you hear beep beep beep beep beep beep. 😵 The wind and the waves mitigates some of the sounds and so does the RV, thank goodness.

Like anything, you start to get used to it. And it was easy to just drive to a different spot up the beach or down the beach as there is so much to see anyway.

it was really busy on the beach over the weekend. Lot of cars and golf carts going back and forth. But it never got rowdy. They have good policing here on the beach because it is part of the city.

Frisbee

I also learned a new game from some young men on the beach! I neglected to get a picture of the setup but it’s easy to explain. Two posts are put into the ground that are about five and a half feet above the surface. They are about the same setup as you would use for the bean bag toss game. On top of each post is a can of beer, unopened. The object is to use a frisbee to knock off the can of beer of your opponent. If you miss the can your opponent has to catch the frisbee. If you hit the can, they have to catch the can and the Frisbee before it hits the ground! They asked if I wanted to give it a try and of course I said yes!! They were impressed that I could actually throw the frisbee straight!! ( Really! Come on guys!!) But I missed his can. Then he missed, I missed, he hit my can I didn’t catch it so I had to drink it!! 😂 Now is that a punishment or a reward??🤔🤣 If you don’t catch the Frisbee you also have to drink the can of beer. 🍻 Can you imagine where this game goes??? The more you drink, the worse you throw, the less you catch, the more you drink…🔁 Good Lord 😅 sounds like Beach fun.

We talked for a little bit then while I had my beer. They were intrigued and interested in what I was doing and that I was doing it alone. They were from San Antonio and had come down to do some beach time and fishing. They all had quite a variety of different jobs including IT. They were returning that day.

I went back to my rv, and decided to give them the last can of Spotted Cow beer. So I walked up with it and asked if any of them were craft beer aficionos. Well they all pointed to one of the guys and his eyes were glued to that can of beer!! He had heard about the Spotted Cow but had never had it. He was so excited when I gave it to him. 😊 He opened it and took a few sips and passed it around . He loved it and they said they really did like it. I said it wasn’t for everybody but they said, no, it was pretty good. I didn’t catch any of their names but the one who knew what it was, was excited about it and was going to put a picture of it on his Facebook page!! 😂 (He was given it back to finish drinking) Talk about giving the right thing to the right person at the right time!! They made my day and I made their day. Fun!

The beer they had was Coors beer and I told the guys a bit of the history of Coor’s beer in the 1970s. Only the craft beer guy knew this. At that time Coors was not allowed to be sold east of the Mississippi River. So anybody that went west, came back with however many cans or bottles of Coors beer they could fit in with their luggage!! Scarcity increases demand. When I was in college and went West with my parents, we brought some back too!!

Big Bird.

A couple days later I drove up to the north side of the beach. While walking along the shore I noticed a couple camping with an unusual setup. And then a beautiful colorful bird caught my eye. Well I had to go over and see what this was about as there was a woman outside tending to a big, colorful bird!

Her name was Karen and she was more than happy to talk about the bird. 😊 It’s name is Blaze, named my their teenage son. So I asked how she came about having a bird like this. It started with her teenage sons and their desire for a bird and the birds kept getting larger over time! One of her sons now has a Macaw and she has this one which is a green winged Parrot. I know parrots can live to be 60 to 70 years old so it is more than a lifetime responsibility to take on with these birds. She said Blaze is now 18 years old and she acquired him when he was 4 months old!!

She then asked me if I wanted to hold him. At first I said I didn’t think so but thanks for offering. And then after a moment ( after berating myself for not taking this opportunity) I said yeah I’d like to do that. He very carefully crossed from her forearm to my forearm. I mean that was a lot of trust because he was pretty close to me and didn’t know me at all. I was surprised at the weight that he had. He wasn’t as heavy as I thought he would be but he still had some weight to him. And he gripped my arm with just the perfect amount of tension. It did not hurt at all and his feet did not dig into my arm at all. He is really well trained. She said she has taught him to ride on her shoulder and she doesn’t want to be dug into either!! 🤔😄 It was so neat to have a bird that big trust you and look you over as much as you look him over!! I can see how people can get attached to birds like that! They just seem pretty perceptive.

His wings are clipped so that he can’t fly away. She appreciated the opportunity to have him become acclimated and interact with me. She really wants him to be sociable and comfortable around other people. I would loved to have taken Blaze down the beach with me. He was really cool.

Well, I will call it a day now. But it is good to be back writing and sharing again. After these experiences I went to Mustang Island State Park for four nights. That felt like luxury after boondocking! I had electricity and all the water I wanted again!! I also have more to share of my experiences while I was staying at the RV dealership too, around Corpus Christi. So there will be a lot more odds and ends coming!! 🤗