Our Home For The Winter

                                                 WHERE WE LIVE IN TEXAS

Thought I'd post a few pictures of where we live here in Brownsville,Texas.
We are in a 55+ park. It is gated, fenced, and has approximately 500 various units. There are two sections for campers that stay for short periods of time. The majority of the units are park models; most have Texas rooms that are built on the lot.
Our Texas room is just that-a room. It has a futon, fridge, microwave, TV, cupboard, with sliding glass door. We have seen some Texas rooms that are equipped like small houses. They have full bathrooms, kitchens, bedrooms, and living areas. There are restrictions on what can be built, but it seems the measures aren't too strict. There are regular wood built houses and brick houses. Some are very elaborate, some are simple. We live in a park model.
There is a clubhouse with a pool and spa. Two other pools are at other sites in the park. There are a variety of activities to participate in at the clubhouse, dinners are held there, along with cook-outs, bingo, craft sales, parties, cards, dances, and nights of entertainment. We do attend a few of the events. We mainly go to the Winter Texan meetings that are held downtown. They have great entertainment, wonderful door prizes, a variety of classes and "fun."
                                                                                                 

Our yard is easy to care for, it's all cement and stones. The water that runs through the park are called Resacas. These bodies of water that run throughout the city, some are narrow, some very wide.

Above is our park model, with the Texas room next to it. We have palm trees, and what looks like a Christmas tree, roses, and other bushes I don't know. The big building is the clubhouse, with the pool. The other pool is near the office and there is another one over the Resaca bridges down our street. I go to the clubhouse pool, it has a hot tub!

The flags fly by the office are straight out many days, due to how windy it can get here. Some days, like today, no wind--some days, hold the kids down or they'll blow away!

In the Resaca, by the clubhouse, we have resident swans. A lady in the park feeds them a special diet that is prepared by the nutritionists at the Gladys Porter Zoo. The swans live here in the resacas, year 'round, along with a variety of ducks.

                         Snowman and Palm Trees! Strange...
 HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL THAT READ MY BLOG!
 

A RANDOM RIDE- TOWARD A SUNNY DAY!

                                                      A RIDE TOWARD THE SUN
It wasn't raining today! Early afternoon we decided to take a ride. Where to?
We weren't sure, so I suggested we drive toward San Benito, we haven't been there yet. San Benito is rather close to Brownsville, just a regular town, we continued on. Suddenly the sun was in the distance! Now, we haven't seen the sun for days, so we drove toward it. We were on our way to Pharr (pronounced far). Those brown signs on any road attrack my attention. They are signs for parks, refuges, lakes, and other natural wonders. We passed a brown sign indicating a refuge to the left.

Turning around we headed back to the Santa Ana Wildlife Refuge. We have a senior park pass (good for all national parks/cost:$10, great bargain) so we went to the center for our dated window slip, and proceeded to gather up camera, binoculars, water and hats. Walking down the paths we encountered several Chachalacas.

They are noisy birds, sounding like monkeys. The sun was out, the woods was tropical, the path was muddy, the binoculars were ready, what a great afternoon!
Chachalacas, Golden-fronted Woodpeckers, Altamira Oriole, Kiskadee Flycatcher, Pied-billed Grebe, Horned Grebe, American Wigeon, Mottled Duck, American Coot, Common Moorhen, along with herons, egerts, Roseate spoonbills, all in one place!  This is a great refuge to visit!         This is the Altamira Oriole hiding behind the branches.
The most unique part of the afternoon was coming upon a suspended bridge!
Right there in the middle of the refuge there were sprial stairs leading up to 
a small platform, which connected a suspended bridge to another small platform. We ascended the spiral stairs, to the first platform. This seemed like new construction. Everything very white and clean. Holding on to the ropes we crossed the suspension bridge. It was undulating and shaky. Of course, it could be made more shaky by jumping up and down!

The long suspension bridge, made from ropes and "recycled, plastic wood." It was so high and so much fun to cross! We were at the canopy of the woods, looking down made my knees a little weak. Had to get that out of my head, as I needed to get to the other platform, then down those spiral steps. We will return to this refuge, maybe when my sister comes down to visit. She'll love this!

Below: looking up at the suspension bridge.   Spiral stairs-4 sets of them.                        

WE DIDN'T SIGN UP FOR THIS WEATHER!

                  BETTER THAN WHAT WE WOULD BE HAVING IN WISCONSIN!

It has been raining for three days now. In the 40's and 50's. Not exactly what you would call the best of weather.  We do like it warmer outdoors, but it's warm inside.  Can't control the weather, just have to make the best of it.
To put some bright color into these dreary days, I'm looking back to where
we lived in Mexico.

COLORFUL HOMES IN MEXICO ~

THESE WOULD BRIGHTEN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD!

                                 EL QUELITE

This is a small town, not too far from where we lived in Mazatlan.
The homes are quiant and colorful. Many homes in this town and surrounding towns are painted from the bright side of the colorwheel.
To be so free!? Imagine going out some weekend and painting your home so bright. People would be driving by...comments would be flying around...oh my.
Guess it just wouldn't "fit in".  Different cultures are a good thing! 

Colorful produce, at the market, in Mexico.

                                COLORFUL IN A DIFFERENT WAY

Raising sheep on your roof.  This was not in a small, out of the way town in Mexico. This was in a neighborhood of Mazatlan, a very large city.  Sometimes you have to do, what you have to do.
Our Lady of Guadalupe graces the side of this home and there is a food vendor's stand, folding closed, right on the corner.
Wonder if the sheep is being raised to make barbacoca, to be served with a variety of sauces, guacamole, and lime right from the food stand?
(Barbacoca-made by roasting a whole sheep or lamb in a pit dug in the ground. The sheep's "view" of life is high from his roof perch, also high for the owner, as every part of the sheep will be used.)

The weather here will change soon. The weatherman is predicting a nice weekend. I see 70's and 80's, with sun on the forecast chart!  Yippee!
The memories and colorful pictures of Mexico, lifted my dreary day, hope
they brought color to your day too.

LEANING TOWER OF SOUTH PADRE ISLAND, TEXAS

                                          IMPLOSION ON SOUTH PADRE ISLAND

Early risers in the Cramer household today. We were on the road to South Padre Island. It seemed like half of Brownsville was driving over the bridge that takes you to the resort town of South Padre. Following the traffic toward the tower we saw police directing, not only traffic, but people.

We went with friends, Mike and Laurel; with Mike driving his pick-up we traversed into the mud and had a great view of what was going to happen at 9:00 this Sunday morning.

Usually timed events don't happen on time. It has taken months to prepare for the implosion of Ocean Tower Condos.
The Ocean Tower was leaning, which could've been due to the extra weight on one side from the olympic size pool and attached garage. Obviously, it didn't work to "fix" it, as this morning it was being imploded.
This timed event happened on time!

Controlled Demolition Incorporated out of Baltimore, Maryland carried out the implosion. They used more than two and a half miles of detonating cord to bring down the 55,000 tons of concrete and steel, in this 30 story building.
Like a starting gun, at a sporting event, sirens broke the silence and caught everyone's attention that something was going to happen.

Suddenly we heard what could've been the start of a fireworks show, pop, pop, popping, then much louder and in approximately 11.2 seconds the Leaning Tower on South Padre Island was nothing but dust and a pile of rubble.

                You can see the hot spots above.   There it goes.                                                                                                                                                                 

Almost gone....                                   Nothing but dust...                          

A pile of rubble ~in 11.2 seconds!

What a clean up this going to be!  

We witnessed history today, as this was a world record implosion, for the tallest reinforced concrete building to ever be imploded.

Off to breakfast, at a great Mexican Restaurant. Some way to start off a Sunday morning. Making a truly great day~~~the Green Bay Packers won again!  Go Pack!                                                   

WILDLIFE AT LAGUNA ATASCOSA

                  LAGUNA ATASCOSA

This refuge is one we frequent. Each time we visit, we see something different. Even the area changes. With recent rains, this time there was plenty of water in the formerly dry creeks, and small lakes.
We were so pleased with the wildlife on this visit. It was a cloudy, cold day (cold for here). I like touring this refuge during various weather conditions, thinking I'll be witness to something new.
This cloudy, cold weather brought out unexpected visitors/no wait/we were the visitors!

Upper left~~a Crested Caracara sitting majestically in the field on the way into the refuge. I saw this bird in Mexico, at a distance. In Texas I see it often sitting in the fields, waiting for small animals or cleaning up the carrion.

Seeing Ospreys is common, and always entertaining. This Osprey caught his days food, but was being taunted by other birds. Finally, the osprey had enough, trying to protect it's catch, and took off fish in talons. It landed down the beach and continued lunching on the fish.

The highlight of this trip to Laguna Atascosa, driving the Bayside Drive, sudddenly, coming out of the long grass - a coyote!


It was so healthy looking. I've seen coyotes by Green Lake, WI -they did
not look this pretty! This one spotted us, as you can see in the pictures,
but it kept walking on the road, coming toward us. Probably curious to see
what was in it's area! It went into the tall grass, came out again, and then
took off into the flowery weeds. Enjoy!

So pretty in the flowery grass! The light seems to shine on the coyote's fur, bringing out it's beauty. We saw another coyote, on the road, on the way out of the refuge, not as brownish and pretty as this one.

         

          Beautiful Green Jay

The greenjays were abundant. They are so beautiful up close. The orange, in the picture is to attrack the Hooded Oriole. The Baltimore Oriole is a year-round resident to the Rio Grande Valley.

FLOWERS ~ FLOWERS ~AND MORE FLOWERS

I find the cemetaries here and in Mexico, very interesting. These pictures are from three different cemetaries here in Brownsville. Flowers are bountiful, as you can see. There is a great deal of respect given to the dead in this culture. The flowers are all artificial, due to the weather. Long dry spells occur; these flowers are still colorful and fresh.

Day of the Dead (Día de los Muertos), is a celebratory day, to Mexicans. This is a two day holiday, November 1st and 2nd, coinciding with the Catholic holidays of All Saint's Day and All Soul's Day. 

Dating back to the pre-contact Aztec Culture, this day is to recognize that our loved ones are gone, but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy their company. Food, lights, drinks and flowers are taken to the cemetaries on this day. Families gather once a year to celebrate the lives of their deceased loved ones.

Maybe all these flowers were placed at these cemetaries on that day?

Or, as fresh and organized as they looked, this is continued on throughout the year?  Either way, it is a sight to behold and take in. BEAUTIFUL!

A NIGHT AT THE ZOO

                                            ZOO NIGHTS AND LIGHTS
A night at the Gladys Porter Zoo. Even though the animals were "in the dark"
literally, we toured the zoo to see the Christmas lights. The tour is only held three nights, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Sadly, it rained on Friday this year.

The Gladys Porter Zoo is an oasis nestled in the center of Brownsville, Texas. With 26 acres of lush tropical plants and some 1,600 animals, the Gladys Porter Zoo is known for its successes in breeding endangered species of wildlife.

The animals we saw at the zoo, Sunday evening, were of different colored lights. The walkways were lined with luminaries, of red and green.
 
Kettle Korn, turkey legs, hot dogs, bakery, and churros were there for those having a snack attack. Of course, Joe had a turkey leg!
 
A craft sale was held in one of the buildings, offering many Christmas decorations and gifts.
 
There were bands, singers and activities for the children.
 
Night at the zoo, without the animals! Enjoyable!
 

 
 
 
So tiny---- Flat Stanley is sitting in the elephant's trunk!
Night pictures are difficult, these are the ones that turned out the best!